Asymmetries in the weak decay of polarized hypernuclei

Abstract

Polarization observables and decay rates are evaluated for the nonmesonic weak decay of hypernuclei in a relativistic nuclear model. The single-particle bound and scattering states are obtained by solving the Dirac equation with large potentials. The total decay rates are very sensitive to ΔN short-range correlations in the initial state. The experimental total and partial decay rates of Λ 5He, Λ 11B and Λ 12C cannot be reproduced with only pion- and kaon-exchange in the process ΛN→NN. However, the proton asymmetries in the decay of with preliminary experimental data from KEK. The polarization observables are found to be sensitive to the final-state interaction of the ejected nucleons.