Speaker
Description
At present, there is no clear consensus regarding how the mass and width of
the phi meson are modified in a dense environment such as nuclear matter,
nor on the strength of its chiral mixing with the axial-vector chiral
partner. Although a number of theoretical studies have addressed these
questions, establishing a direct connection with experimental observables
remains a significant challenge. This difficulty arises in part because the
phi meson in nuclear matter is typically produced in proton–nucleus (pA)
reactions, which are inherently non-equilibrium processes.
In this presentation, I will review the current status of theoretical research on the
in-medium properties of the phi meson, with a particular emphasis on ongoing
transport simulations of pA reactions that produce phi mesons inside nuclei.
These reactions are being explored experimentally at KEK E325 and in the
J-PARC E16 and E88 experiments.