Universe Colloquium: Interactions between strange and plain matter

by Kirill Lapidus (TUM)

Wednesday 10 Jul 2013, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Berlin

Seminar room, basement (Universe)

In this talk Kirill will give an overview of recent activities in the field of the strangeness physics, focusing mainly on the data obtained by the HADES experiment (GSI, Darmstadt) in the analyses of proton-proton and proton-nucleus reactions at 3.5 GeV beam energy. First, he will address the antikaon-nucleon interaction with an emphasis on the role of the Lambda(1405) baryon, essential for the understanding of the antikaon-nucleon dynamics at low energies. A closely related question is whether the antikaon-nucleon attraction is strong enough to form a cluster of two nucleons bound together by an antikaon. A key issue in the experimental search for this hypothetical state is a firm control over various physical background sources. The next topic is the behaviour of strange particles when they are created inside a nucleus. Here, Kirill will discuss their studies of kaon and Lambda(1116) production in proton-nucleus collisions, where we search for cold nuclear matter effects, such as in-medium potentials. These measurements might be useful for theoretical models that consider the appearance of strange particles in the core of a neutron star. Finally, he will outline measurements of strangeness in heavy ion collisions and future experiments with a pion beam. The Universe Colloquium is followed by a social gathering with wine and cheese.