Accelerator neutrinos as a probe of in-medium hyperon potentials

Abstract

Charged-current (anti)neutrino interactions create $\Lambda$ and $\Sigma$ hyperons \emph{inside} the nucleus, making hyperon final-state interactions a terrestrial probe of the in-medium potentials that govern hyperon onset in neutron stars. In the StrangeMC simulation the trapped-$\Lambda$ fraction, escaping hyperon momenta, and a kaon-vetoed ${\Sigma }^{+}$ tag respond monotonically to $U_{\Lambda }$ and $U_{\Sigma }$ at SBND and DUNE. Marginalised over the low-density slope, a forecast gives $\delta U_{\Lambda }\approx 6\text{MeV}$ with systematics distinct from hypernuclear data; $U_{\Sigma }$ is limited by hyperon--nucleon cross sections.

Comments: 4 pages, 4 figures