Kaonic atoms and in-medium K^-N amplitudes II: Interplay between theory and phenomenology

A microscopic kaonic-atom optical potential V_K-⁽¹⁾ is constructed, using the Ikeda-Hyodo-Weise NLO chiral K^-N subthreshold scattering amplitudes constrained by the kaonic hydrogen SIDDHARTA measurement, and incorporating Pauli correlations within the Waas-Rho-Weise generalization of the Ericson-Ericson multiple-scattering approach. Good fits to kaonic atom data over the entire periodic table require additionally sizable K^-N N-motivated absorptive and dispersive phenomenological terms, in agreement with our former analysis based on a post-SIDDHARTA in-medium chirally-inspired NLO separable model by Cieplý and Smejkal. Such terms are included by introducing a phenomenological potential V_K-⁽²⁾ and coupling it self-consistently to V_K-⁽¹⁾. Properties of resulting kaonic atom potentials are discussed with special attention paid to the role of K^--nuclear absorption and to the extraction of density-dependent amplitudes representing K^- multi-nucleon processes.