Attenuation of phi mesons in gamma A reactions

Abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of inclusive photoproduction of phi mesons in nuclei. In particular the dependence of the total phi meson yield on the target mass number is investigated. The calculations are done using the semi-classical BUU transport approach that combines the initial state interaction of the incoming photon with the coupled-channel dynamics of the final state particles. The conditions of the calculations are chosen such as to match the set up of a recent experiment performed at SPring8/Osaka. Whereas the observables prove to be rather sensitive to the phi self energy in the medium, the attribution of deviations from the standard scenario to a particular in-medium effect seems to be impossible.