Nonleptonic Hyperon Decays Research Articles

Symmetry in Σ Hyperon Decay

CP symmetry violation is one of the fundamental requirements for having more matter than antimatter in our universe. However, the observed CP violation is not enough to explain the matter dominance. Searching for the new CP violation in the hyperon sector is therefore attracting people’s interests. In this article, we review the theoretical description of the spin one-half hyperon nonleptonic decay. In order to test the CP conservation, the asymmetry decay parameters might be compared between hyperon and antihyperon. The fixed-target experiments achieved the relevant measurements of the hyperon parameters but in the absence of the antihyperon results. The BESIII experiment with e+e− collision provided an entanglement environment to measure Σ+ and Σ¯− simultaneously. The important role of experimental inputs in CP violation evaluation is discussed in this paper, underlying the great potential of the future collider, which may allow us to reach the precision of the Standard Model predictions.

Weak radiative hyperon decays in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory

Weak radiative hyperon decays, important to test the strong interaction and relevant in searches for beyond the standard model physics, have remained puzzling both experimentally and theoretically for a long time. The recently updated branching fraction and first measurement of the asymmetry parameter of Λ→nγ by the BESIII Collaboration further exacerbate the issue, as none of the existing predictions can describe the data. We show in this work that the covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory, with constraints from the latest measurements of hyperon non-leptonic decays, can well describe the BESIII data. The predicted branching fraction and asymmetry parameter for Ξ-→Σ-γ are also in agreement with the experimental data. We note that a more precise measurement of the asymmetry parameter, which is strongly constrained by chiral symmetry and related with that of Σ+→pγ, is crucial to test Hara’s theorem. We further predict the branching fraction and asymmetry parameter of Σ0→nγ, whose future measurement can serve as a highly nontrivial check on our understanding of weak radiative hyperon decays and on the covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory.

Studying two-body nonleptonic weak decays of hyperons with topological diagram approach

Many decays of light baryons consisting of light u, d, s quarks have been measured, and these measurements will help us to understand the decay properties of light baryons. In this work, we study two-body nonleptonic weak decays of light baryon octets (T8) and baryon decuplets (T10) by the topological diagram approach (TDA) under the SU(3) flavor symmetry for the first time. We find that () the TDA and the SU(3) irreducible representation approach (IRA) match consistently in (P8 is the light pseudoscalar meson octet); (2) almost all relevant not-yet-measured may be predicted by using three experimental data of , and the upper limits of may be obtained from the experimental upper limit of by both the TDA and the IRA together, nevertheless, all new predicted branching ratios are too small to be reached in current experiments; (3) T8 → T8′P8 decays are quite complex in terms of the TDA, and we find that W-exchange diagrams give large and even dominant contributions by using relevant experimental data and the isospin relations.

Lattice-QCD determination of the hyperon axial couplings in the continuum limit

We present the first chiral-continuum--finite-volume extrapolation of the hyperon octet axial couplings (${g}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}}$ and ${g}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}$) from ${N}_{f}=2+1+1$ lattice QCD. These couplings are important parameters in the low-energy effective field theory description of the octet baryons and are fundamental to the nonleptonic decays of hyperons and to hyperon-hyperon and hyperon-nucleon scattering with applications to neutron stars. We use clover lattice fermion action for the valence quarks with sea quarks coming from configurations of ${N}_{f}=2+1+1$ highly improved staggered quarks generated by MILC Collaboration. Our work includes the first calculation of ${g}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}}$ and ${g}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}$ directly at the physical pion mass on the lattice, and a full account of systematic uncertainty, including excited-state contamination, finite-volume effects, and continuum extrapolation, all addressed for the first time. We find the ratio of the continuum-limit hyperon coupling constants with respect to the nucleon axial charges to be ${g}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}}/{g}_{A}=0.351(6)(2)$ and ${g}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Xi}}}/{g}_{A}=\ensuremath{-}0.213(5)(1)$, where the first error includes the statistical and extrapolation systematic uncertainties, and the second error corresponds to systematics associated with varying lattice parameters. The SU(3) symmetry breaking derived from these axial charges is 9%, which is about a factor of 2 smaller than earlier lattice estimates.

Testing SU(3) flavor symmetry in semileptonic and two-body nonleptonic decays of hyperons

The semileptonic decays and two-body nonleptonic decays of light baryon octet ($T_8$) and decuplet ($T_{10}$) consisting of light $u,d,s$ quarks are studied with the SU(3) flavor symmetry in this work. We obtain the amplitude relations between different decay modes by the SU(3) irreducible representation approach, and then predict relevant branching ratios by present experimental data within $1 \sigma$ error. We find that the predictions for all branching ratios except $\mathcal{B}(\Xi\rightarrow \Lambda^0\pi)$ and $\mathcal{B}(\Xi^*\rightarrow \Xi\pi)$ are in good agreement with present experimental data, that implies the neglected $C_+$ terms or SU(3) breaking effects might contribute at the order of a few percent in $\Xi\rightarrow \Lambda^0\pi$ and $\Xi^*\rightarrow \Xi\pi$ weak decays. We predict that $\mathcal{B}(\Xi^{-}\rightarrow \Sigma^0\mu^-\bar{\nu}_\mu)=(1.13\pm0.08)\times10^{-6}$, $\mathcal{B}(\Xi^{-}\rightarrow\Lambda^0\mu^-\bar{\nu}_\mu)=(1.58\pm0.04)\times10^{-4}$, $\mathcal{B}(\Omega^-\rightarrow\Xi^0\mu^-\bar{\nu}_\mu)=(3.7\pm1.8)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(\Sigma^-\rightarrow \Sigma^0e^-\bar{\nu}_e)=(1.35\pm0.28)\times10^{-10}$, $\mathcal{B}(\Xi^-\rightarrow \Xi^0e^-\bar{\nu}_e)=(4.2\pm2.4)\times10^{-10}$. We also study $T_{10}\to T_8 P_8$ weak, electromagnetic or strong decays. Some of these decay modes could be observed by the BESIII, LHCb and other experiments in the near future. Due to the very small life times of $\Sigma^0$, $\Xi^{*0,-}$, $\Sigma^{*0,-}$ and $\Delta^{0,-}$, the branching ratios of these baryon weak decays are only at the order of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-20}-10^{-13}$), which are too small to be reached by current experiments. Furthermore, the longitudinal branching ratios of $T_{8A} \to T_{8B} \ell^- \bar{\nu}_\ell~(\ell=\mu,e)$ decays are also given.

S-wave nonleptonic hyperon decays andΞb−→π−Λb

The decay $\Xi^-_b \to \pi^- \Lambda_b$ has recently been observed by the LHCb Collaboration at CERN. In contrast to most weak decays of $b$-flavored baryons, this process involves the decay of the strange quark in $\Xi_b$, and thus has features in common with nonleptonic weak decays of hyperons. Thanks to the expected pure S-wave nature of the decay in question in the heavy $b$ quark limit, we find that its amplitude may be related to those for S-wave nonleptonic decays of $\Lambda$, $\Sigma$, and $\Xi$ in a picture inspired by duality. The calculated branching fraction ${\cal B}(\Xi^-_b \to \pi^- \Lambda_b) = (6.3 \pm 4.2) \times 10^{-3}$ is consistent with the range allowed in the LHCb analysis. The error is dominated by an assumed 30\% uncertainty in the amplitude due to possible U(3) violation. A more optimistic view based on sum rules involving nonleptonic hyperon decay S-wave amplitudes reduces the error on the branching fraction to $2.0 \times 10^{-3}$.

Radiative and nonleptonic hyperon decays in broken SU(3)

We report on the recently proposed joint resolution of two long-standing puzzles in weak radiative (WR) and nonleptonic (NL) hyperon decays (HD). First, a good VMD-based description of WRHD is presented. In particular, the large negative asymmetry observed in the Σ+→pγ decay is explained through a calculably large SU(3)-breaking effect in the relevant parity-violating amplitude. Second, the achieved description of the parity-violating WRHD amplitudes permits the extraction, via the SU(2)W+VMD route, of the non-soft-pion correction term in the parity-violating NLHD amplitudes. The latter subtracts a substantial amount from the current-algebra commutator term, thus leading to the resolution of the old S : P discrepancy in NLHD.

Joint description of weak radiative and nonleptonic hyperon decays in broken SU(3)

We give a joint description of weak radiative (WR) and nonleptonic (NL) hyperon decays (HD) in broken SU(3). The two groups of decays are linked via SU(2){sub W} spin symmetry and vector-meson dominance (VMD). We use experimental information on the parity-conserving NLHD amplitudes to fix the corresponding WRHD amplitudes. With the latter known, the data on the WRHD branching ratios and asymmetries permit us to determine the parity-violating WRHD amplitudes in terms of two parameters corresponding to the two-quark and single-quark transitions. We obtain a good description of the data, and, in particular, a large {sigma}{sup +}{yields}p{gamma} asymmetry. Then, using the SU(2){sub W}+VMD route we determine the non-soft-meson correction term in the parity-violating NLHD amplitudes. The latter is shown to subtract a substantial amount from the current-algebra commutator thus leading towards the resolution of the S ratio P discrepancy in NLHD.

INSTANTON-INDUCED CORRELATIONS IN HADRONS

QCD instantons generate non-perturbative spin- and flavor- dependent correlations between light quarks. We report on the results of a series of studies on the contribution of instantons to the electro-weak structure of light hadrons. We show that the Instanton Liquid Model can reproduce the available data on proton and pion form factors at large momentum transfer, and explain the delay of the onset of the perturbative regime in some exclusive reactions. We provide unambiguous evidence that instantons lead to the formation of a deeply bound scalar, color anti-triplet diquark, with a mass of about 450 MeV. The strong attraction in the [Formula: see text], scalar diquark channel leads to a quantitative description of non-leptonic decays of hyperons and provides a microscopic dynamical explanation of the Δ I = 1/2 rule.

Search forΔS=2Nonleptonic Hyperon Decays

A sensitive search for the rare decays Omega(-)--> Lambdapi(-) and Xi(0)--> ppi(-) has been performed using data from the 1997 run of the HyperCP (Fermilab E871) experiment. Limits on other such processes do not exclude the possibility of observable rates for |DeltaS| = 2 nonleptonic hyperon decays, provided the decays occur through parity-odd operators. We obtain the branching-fraction limits B(Omega(-)-->Lambdapi(-)) < 2.9 x 10(-6) and B(Xi(0)--> ppi(-)) < 8.2 x 10(-6), both at 90% confidence level.

Instantons, diquarks, and nonleptonic weak decays of hyperons

This work is devoted to the study of the non-perturbative contributions in non-leptonic hyperon decays. We show that the instanton-induced 't Hooft interaction can naturally explain the Delta I=1/2 rule, by generating quark-diquark clustering inside octet baryons. We compute P-wave and S-wave amplitudes in the Instanton Liquid Model (ILM), and find good agreement with experiment. We propose a model-independent procedure to test on the lattice if the leading quark-quark attraction in the 0^+ anti-triplet channel responsible for diquark structures in hadrons is originated by the interaction generated by quasi-classical fields or it is predominantly due to other perturbative and/or confining forces.

New physics andCPviolation in hyperon nonleptonic decays

The sum of the CP-violating asymmetries A(Lambda_-^0) and A(Xi_-^-) in hyperon nonleptonic decays is presently being measured by the E871 experiment. We evaluate contributions to the asymmetries induced by chromomagnetic-penguin operators, whose coefficients can be enhanced in certain models of new physics. Incorporating recent information on the strong phases in Xi->Lambda pi decay, we show that new-physics contributions to the two asymmetries can be comparable. We explore how the upcoming results of E871 may constrain the coefficients of the operators. We find that its preliminary measurement is already better than the epsilon parameter of K-Kbar mixing in bounding the parity-conserving contributions.

Role of the Quark-Quark Correlation in Baryon Structure and Non-Leptonic Weak Transitions of Hyperons

We study the role of quark-quark correlation in the baryon structure and, in particular, the hyperon non-leptonic weak decay, which is sensitive to the correlation between quarks in the spin-0 channel. We rigorously solve non-relativistic three-body problem for SU(3) ground state baryons to take into account the quark-pair correlation explicitly. With the suitable attraction in the spin-0 channel, resulting static baryon properties as well as the parity conserving weak decay amplitudes agree with the experimental values. Special emphasis is placed also on the effect of the SU(6) spin-flavor symmetry breaking on the baryon structure. Although the SU(6) breaking effects on the local behavior of the quark wave functions are considerable due to the spin-0 attraction, the calculated magnetic moments are almost the same as the naive SU(6) expectations.

CPviolation in hyperon nonleptonic decays within the standard model

We calculate the CP-violating asymmetries A(Lambda_-^0) and A(Xi_-^-) in nonleptonic hyperon decay within the Standard Model using the framework of heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory (chiPT). We identify those terms that correspond to previous calculations and discover several errors in the existing literature. We present a new result for the lowest-order (in chiPT) contribution of the penguin operator to these asymmetries, as well as an estimate for the uncertainty of our result that is based on the calculation of the leading nonanalytic corrections.

NonleptonicΩ−decays and the Skyrme model

Nonleptonic $\Omega^{-}$ decay branching ratios are estimated by means of the QCD enhanced effective weak Hamiltonian supplemented by the SU(3) Skyrme model used to estimate the nonperturbative matrix elements. The model has only one free parameter, namely the Skyrme charge $e$, which is fixed through the experimental values of the octet-decuplet mass splitting $\Delta $ and the axial coupling constant $g_{A}$. The whole scheme is equivalent to that which works well for the nonleptonic hyperon decays. The ratios of calculated amplitudes are in agreement with experiment. However, the absolute values are about twice too large if short-distance corrections and only ground intermediate states are included.

Parity-violating photoproduction of pi(+/-) on the delta resonance.

We analyze the real-photon asymmetry A(gamma)(+/-) for the parity-violating (PV) pi(+/-) production on the Delta resonance via the reactions (-->)gamma + p --> Delta(+) --> pi(+) + n and (-->)gamma + d --> Delta(0) + p --> pi(-) + p + p. This asymmetry is nonvanishing due to a PV gamma N Delta coupling constant, d(Delta)(+/-). We argue that an experimental determination of this coupling would be of interest for hadron dynamics, possibly shedding light on the S-wave/ P-wave puzzle in the hyperon nonleptonic decays and the violation of Hara's theorem in weak radiative hyperon decays.

Skyrme model and nonleptonic hyperon decays

This report is an attempt to explain both s- and p-wave nonleptonic hyperon decays by means of the QCD enhanced effective weak Hamiltonian supplemented by the SU(3) Skyrme model used to estimate nonperturbative matrix elements. The model has only one free parameter, namely, the Skyrme charge $e$, which is fixed through the experimental values of the octet-decuplet mass splitting $\Delta $ and the axial coupling constant $g_{A}$. Such a dynamical approach produces nonleptonic hyperon decay amplitudes that agree with experimental data reasonably well.

Weak nucleon-nucleon-kaon vertices and hyperon nonleptonic decays

A theory of weak hyperon non-leptonic decays is used to predict weakNNK vertices which appear in weak hypernuclear potentials. Comparisonis made with other predictions.

An estimate of a lower bound on the masses of mirror baryons

We consider the most favorable conditions to indirectly observe the mixing of ordinary and mirror hadrons in non-leptonic and weak radiative decays of hyperons. This allows us to set a lower bound on the masses of mirror baryons. This bound turns out to be impressively high, of the order of 10 6 GeV.

Search for direct CP violation in nonleptonic decays of charged Xi and lambda hyperons

A search for direct CP violation in the nonleptonic decays of hyperons has been performed. In comparing the product of the decay parameters, alpha(Xi)alpha(Lambda), in terms of an asymmetry parameter, A(XiLambda), between hyperons and antihyperons in the charged Xi-->Lambdapi and Lambda-->ppi decay sequence, we found no evidence of direct CP violation. The parameter A(XiLambda) was measured to be 0.012+/-0.014.