INCLUSIVE ETA-PHOTOPRODUCTION IN NUCLEI

A local model for the nuclear medium modifications to the photoproduction of eta mesons through the N*(1535) resonance is applied to the study of the inclusive reaction in medium and heavy nuclei. The use of effective Lagrangians and many body quantum theory allows one to incorporate the nuclear decay channels of the N* involving a pair of nucleons and Fermi sea effects. Also the etaN final state interaction is considered, taking into account the nuclear renormalization of the etaN scattering cross section, and assuming a classical propagation between collisions. The results show a depletion and broadening of the resonant shape. Total and differential cross sections for different nuclei are presented, and the cross section around resonance is found to behave like A(alpha) with alpha almost-equal-to 0.6.