We have measured the shift and width of the kaonic hydrogen 1s state due to the KN strong interaction. We have observed, for the first time, distinct K-series kaonic hydrogen x rays with good signal-to-noise ratio in the energy spectrum. The measured energy shift and width were determined to be DE͑1s͒ 2323 6 63͑stat͒ 6 11͑syst͒ eV (repulsive) and G͑1s͒ 407 6 208͑stat͒ 6 100͑syst͒ eV, respectively. [S0031-9007(97)02992-X] PACS numbers: 13.75. Jz, 25.80.Nv, 29.30.Kv, 36.10.Gv The determination of the strong-interaction energy level shift and width of the kaonic hydrogen x rays is one of the most important subjects for the understanding of the KN interaction. It is strongly affected by the presence of the L͑1405͒ subthreshold resonance. The study of the KN interaction is also relevant to the important question of K 2 condensation in dense matter [1,2].The observation of the shift and width of the kaonic hydrogen K a ͑2p ! 1s͒ x rays gives direct information about the KN s-wave interaction at the K 2 p threshold energy in a fairly model independent way [3]. The status of the study was quite puzzling due to the contradiction between the signs of the scattering lengths obtained by the previous x-ray measurements [4-6] and those extracted from the analyses of the low energy KN data, e.g., , as shown in Fig. 1. This contradiction is known to be almost impossible to reconcile within the conventional theoretical framework. Moreover, the x-ray signals of the previous experiments are very difficult to identify in their spectra. Therefore, a definitive experiment has been long awaited.We accumulated data for 760 hours at KEK-PS K3. A detailed description of our experimental setup is given in a separate paper [10]. Here we present a short summary.Optimization of the target density is quite important for this experiment. As a compromise between kaon stopping yield and kaon loss during the atomic cascade due to the Stark effect, we chose to operate the hydrogen FIG. 1. The energy shift and width of 1s state. One-standarddeviation region of shift and width of the previous experiments are plotted together with theoretical calculations. The present result is shown in bold.

A report is made on a comprehensive observation of a burstlike gamma-ray emission from thunderclouds on the Sea of Japan, during strong thunderstorms on 6 January 2007. The detected emission, lasting for approximately 40 sec, preceded cloud-to-ground lightning discharges. The burst spectrum, extending to 10 MeV, can be interpreted as consisting of bremsstrahlung photons originating from relativistic electrons. This ground-based observation provides the first clear evidence that strong electric fields in thunderclouds can continuously accelerate electrons beyond 10 MeV prior to lightning discharges.

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Delayed annihilation of antiprotons stopped in liquid helium has been observed, revealing that about 3.6% of stopped antiprotons are trapped in long-lived metastable states. No delayed component was found either in liquid nitrogen or in liquid argon. The observed time distribution of delayed annihilation shows fast-decaying components followed by a major part with a decay time constant of 3 ^sec.

From the standpoint of the meson theory of nuclear force, results of current analysis on phenomenological nuclear potentials are reexamined. A new method of the theory of nuclear forces is proposed. We employed meson potentials for the outside region, and phenomenological parameters for the inside region of the nuclear forces.

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We have found a long-lived metastable state of stopped m in liquid helium by measuring the time spectra of two different delayed products: (i) protons emitted after m absorption by He nuclei and (ii) 70-MeV electrons originating from free m~e v, decay. The lifetime and fraction of delayed~absorption obtained by using the emitted protons are 7.26+0. 12 nsec and 1.66+0.05%, respectively. The free-decay fraction of a pion in liquid helium was obtained to be 0.64+0.03% from this result, which is consistent with the observed free-m decay fraction. These results imply that 2. 30+0.07%%uo of stopped are trapped in the metastable state which have an overall lifetime of 10. 1+0.2 nsec. The same experimental and analysis were performed for stopped vr in liquid neon, where no evidence for trapping was found.