The ? particle as a probe of deeply bound single particle states in heavy nuclei

Abstract

Decay rates of excited states in heavy hypernuclei have been calculated using shell model wave functions. The nuclear Auger effect determines the widths of the states in most cases. The exception is the radiative decay for theΛ particle in the 1p and in exceptional cases also 1d shell. In general, the natural widths of the highly excited states below the threshold for theΛ emission are smaller than the spacing between theΛ shells. Spectroscopy ofΛ bound states in heavy hypernuclei thus seems to be feasible.