The width of the $\omega$ meson in dense matter

Abstract

We obtain the width of the $\omega$ meson in dense nuclear matter by taking into account (i) the free decay of the $\omega$ into three pions, which is dominated by $\rho \pi$ mode, (ii) the processes induced by a vector-baryon interaction dominated by vector meson exchange, and (iii) the $\omega \to K \bar K$ mechanism in matter. The $\omega$ meson develops an important width in matter, coming from the dominant $\omega \to \rho\pi$ decay mode, with a value of $121 \pm 10$ MeV at normal nuclear matter density for an $\omega$ at rest. At finite momentum, the width of the $\omega$ meson increases moderately with values of 200 MeV at 600 MeV/c.