In-medium ϕ meson width extracted from proton-nucleus collisions

The inclusive production of ϕ mesons at small angles in proton collisions with C, Cu, Ag, and Au targets has been measured at an incident energy of 2.83 GeV at the ANKE-COSY facility. The ϕ mesons were registered via the ϕ → K+K− decay. The momentum dependence of the nuclear transparency ratio, the in-medium ϕ width, and the differential cross section for ϕ production have been determined in the momentum region pϕ = 0.6 − 1.6 GeV/c. Comparison with different model calculations suggests a significant broadening of the in-medium ϕ width for normal nuclear density with evidence for a momentum dependence.