Investigating the E2 Nuclear Resonance Effects in Kaonic Atoms: The KAMEO Proposal

¹ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 54, I-00044 Frascati(RM), Italy
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
³ Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Str. Atomistilor No. 407, P.O. Box MG-6 Bucharest-Ma˘gurele, Romania
⁴ Stefan Meyer Institute for Subatomic Physics, Kegelgasse 27, 1030 Wien, Austria
⁵ Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria and INFN Sezione di Milano, I-20133 Milano, Italy
⁶ Physik Department E62, Technische Universiät München, James-Franck-straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁷ Faculty of Physics, Astronomy, and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, Lojasiewicza 11, Krakow, 30-348, Poland
⁸ Center for Theranostics, Jagiellonian University, Kopernika 40, Krakow, 31-501, Poland
⁹ RIKEN, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako, Tokyo 351-0198, Japan
¹⁰ Research Center for Electron Photon Science (ELPH), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
¹¹ Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi—Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, Via Panisperna 89a, I-00184 Roma, Italy
¹² National Centre for Nuclear Research, 02-093, Pasteura, Warsaw
¹³ University of Vienna, Vienna Doctoral School in Physics, Wien, Austria

^* e-mail: luca.depaolis@lnf.infn.it

Published online: 8 December 2023

Abstract

The E2 nuclear resonance effect in kaonic atoms occurs when the energy of atomic de-excitation closely matches the energy of nuclear excitation, leading to the attenuation of some X-ray lines in the resonant isotope target. This phenomenon provides crucial information on the strong interaction between kaons and nuclei. The only nuclear E2 resonance effect observed so far was in the K⁻ −⁹⁸₄₂Mo isotope, measured by G. L. Goldfrey, G-K. Lum, and C. E. Wiegand at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1975. However, the 25 hours of data taking were not sufficient to yield conclusive results. In four kaonic Molybdenum isotopes (⁹⁴₄₂Mo, ⁹⁶₄₂Mo, ⁹⁸₄₂and Mo, and ¹⁰⁰₄₂Mo), the nuclear E2 resonance effect is expected to occur at the same transition with similar energy values. To investigate this, the KAMEO (Kaonic Atoms Measuring Nuclear Resonance Effects Observables) experiment plans to conduct research on kaonic Molybdenum isotopes at the DAΦNE e⁺e⁻ collider during the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment. The experimental strategy involves exposing four solid strip targets, each enriched with one Molybdenum isotope, to negatively charged kaons and using a germanium detector to measure X-ray transitions. In addition, a non-resonant ⁹²₄₂Mo isotope solid strip target will be used as a reference for standard non-resonant transitions.