Delta Decay in the Nuclear Medium

Abstract

The $\Delta$ decay in the nuclear medium is calculated in the relativistic meson-nucleon model. The delta spreading width is calculated and compared with the Pauli-blocked $\pi$N decay width. The influence of relativistic mean fields is also studied. We stress the importance of understanding the delta spreading width in interpreting experiments involving delta resonances.

Comments: 13 pages (including figures), revtex