No Arabic abstract
Hypernuclei are convenient laboratory to study the baryon-baryon weak interaction and associated effective Hamiltonian. The strangeness changing process, in which a Lambda hyperon converts to a neutron with a release up to 176 MeV, provides a clear signal for a conversion of an s-quark to a d-quark. We propose to perform a non-mesonic weak decay study of 10Be(Lambda)hypernuclei using the (e,eK) reaction. These investigations will fully utilize the unique parameters of the CEBAF CW electron beam and RF system and are enabled by (1) the use of new detector for alpha particles based on the recently developed RF timing technique with picosecond resolution and (2) the small angle and large acceptance kaon spectrometer-HKS in Hall C.
The non-mesonic weak decay of polarized Lambda-hypernuclei is studied for the first time by taking into account, with a Monte Carlo intranuclear cascade code, the nucleon final state interactions. A one-meson-exchange model is employed to describe the Lambda N-> n N processes in a finite nucleus framework. The relationship between the intrinsic Lambda asymmetry parameter a_Lambda and the asymmetry a^M_Lambda accessible in experiments is discussed. A strong dependence of a^M_Lambda on nucleon final state interactions and detection threshold is obtained. Our results for a^M_Lambda are consistent with ^{11}_Lambda B and ^{12}_Lambda C data but disagree with observations in ^5_Lambda He.
The FINUDA experiment performed a systematic study of the charged mesonic weak decay channel of $p$-shell $Lambda$-hypernuclei. Negatively charged pion spectra from mesonic decay were measured with magnetic analysis for the first time for ${^{7}_{Lambda}Li}$, ${^{9}_{Lambda}Be}$, ${^{11}_{Lambda}B}$ and ${^{15}_{Lambda}N}$. The shape of the $pi^{-}$ spectra was interpreted through a comparison with pion distorted wave calculations that take into account the structure of both hypernucleus and daughter nucleus. Branching ratios $Gamma_{pi^{-}}/Gamma_{tot}$ were derived from the measured spectra and converted to $pi^{-}$ decay rates $Gamma_{pi^{-}}$ by means of known or extrapolated total decay widths $Gamma_{tot}$ of $p$-shell $Lambda$-hypernuclei. Based on these measurements, the spin-parity assignment $1/2^+$ for ${^{7}_{Lambda}Li}$ and $5/2^+$ for ${^{11}_{Lambda}B}$ ground-state are confirmed and a spin-parity $3/2^+$ for ${^{15}_{Lambda}N}$ ground-state is assigned for the first time.
We have measured the energy spectra of pions and protons emitted in the weak decay of 12_Lambda_C, 28_Lambda_Si, and Lambda_Fe hypernuclei produced via the (pi+, K+) reaction. The decay widths of the pi- mesonic decay (Lambda -> p + pi-) and the nonmesonic decay (Lambda + N -> N + N) were extracted. The present results demonstrate an increase of the mesonic decay width due to a distortion of the pion wave function in nuclear medium for the first time. The ratios of the neutron- to proton-induced nonmesonic decay widths, Gamma_n(Lambda + n -> n + n)/Gamma_p(Lambda + p -> n + p), were evaluated by a direct comparison of the measured proton energy spectra with the calculated ones. No theoretical calculation which has been proposed so far can simultaneously account for both the nonmesonic decay widths and the Gamma_n/Gamma_p ratios in the present data.
The decay of $Lambda$-hypernuclei without pion emission, known as Non Mesonic Weak Decay (NMWD), gives an effective tool to investigate $Delta$S=1 four-baryon interactions. It was theoretically suggested that the two-nucleon induced mechanism could play a substantial role in reproducing the observed NMWD decay rates and nucleon spectra, but at present no direct evidence of such a mechanism has been obtained. The FINUDA experiment, exploiting the possibility to detect both charged and neutral particles coming from the hypernucleus decay, has allowed us to deduce the relative weight of the two nucleon induced decay rate to the total NMWD rate. The value of $Gamma_{2N}$/$Gamma_{NMWD}$=0.24$pm$${0.03_{stat}}^{+0.03_{sys}}_{{-{0.02_{sys}}}}$ has been deduced, with an error reduced by a factor more than two compared with the previous assessment.
The non-mesonic weak decay of $Lambda$--hypernuclei is studied within a one-meson-exchange potential supplemented by a chirally motivated two-pion-exchange mechanism. The effects of final state interactions on the outgoing nucleons are also taken into account. In view of the severe discrepancies between theoretical expectations and experimental data, particular attention is payed to the asymmetry of the protons emitted by polarized hypernuclei. The one-meson-exchange model describes the non-mesonic rates and the neutron-to-proton ratio satisfactorily but predicts a too large and negative asymmetry parameter. The uncorrelated and correlated two-pion mechanisms change the rates moderately, thus maintaining the agreement with experiment. The modification in the strength and sign of some decay amplitudes becomes crucial and produces asymmetry parameters which lie well within the experimental observations.