Abstract

K− optical potentials relevant to calculations of K− nuclear quasibound states were developed within several chiral meson-baryon coupled-channels interaction models. The applied models yield quite different K− binding energies and widths. Then the K− multinucleon interactions were incorporated by a phenomenological optical potential fitted recently to kaonic atom data. Though the applied K− interaction models differ significantly in the K−N subthreshold region, our self-consistent calculations of kaonic nuclei across the periodic table lead to conclusions valid quite generally. Due to K− multinucleon absorption in the nuclear medium, the calculated widths of K− nuclear states are sizable, ΓK−≥90 MeV, and exceed substantially their binding energies in all considered nuclei.