The η-³He scattering length revisited

Original · EN

The possible existence of η-mesic nuclei poses an interesting and still open issue of research. Since the occurence of such η-nucleus bound states is reflected in the corresponding η-nucleus scattering length, we critically review the present knowledge for the η³He system. Specifically, we scrutinize the available experimental information for the reaction p+d → η+ ³ He which is commonly used to extract the η³He scattering length. We point out several striking discrepancies between the various measurements. Subject to those inconsistencies we deduce a value of a=|4.3±0.3|+i(0.5±0.5) fm.