K^- and p̄ deeply bound atomic states

The strongly absorptive optical potentials V_opt which have been deduced from the strong-interaction level shifts and widths in X-ray spectra of K^- and p̄ atoms produce effective repulsion leading to substantial suppression of the atomic wave functions within the nucleus. The width of atomic levels then saturates as function of the strength of Im V_opt. We find that 'deeply bound' atomic states, which are inaccessible in the atomic cascade process, are generally narrow, due to this mechanism, over the entire periodic table and should be reasonably well resolved. These predictions are insensitive to V_opt, provided it was fitted to the observed X-ray spectra. In contrast, the nuclear states bound by V_opt are very broad and their spectrum depends sensitively on details of V_opt. We discuss production reactions for K^- atomic states using slow K^- mesons from the decay of the ø(1020) vector meson, and the (p̄,p) reaction for p̄ atomic states. Rough cross section estimates are given.