Nonmesonic decay of heavyΛhypernuclei

Abstract

We have calculated the ratio of the rate for nonmesonic decay of the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ in nuclear matter to that of the free $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ decay rate using a pion and rho meson exchange model. Including tensor force effects and a final-state correlation function generated from the Reid-soft-core potential, we estimate $\frac{{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{\mathrm{nm}}}{{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}_{\mathrm{free}}}$ to be of order 1. A discrepancy with respect to the prior estimate of Adams is resolved.