The weak strangeness production reaction $pn\to p\Lambda$ in a one-boson-exchange model

Abstract

The weak production of Lambdas in nucleon-nucleon scattering is studied in a meson-exchange framework. The weak transition operator for the $NN\to N\Lambda$ reaction is identical to a previously developed weak strangeness-changing transition potential $\Lambda N\to NN$ that describes the nonmesonic decay of hypernuclei. The initial $NN$ and final $YN$ state interaction has been included by using realistic baryon-baryon forces that describe the available elastic scattering data. The total and differential cross sections as well as the parity-violating asymmetry are studied for the reaction $pn\to p\Lambda$. These observables are found to be sensitive to the choice of the strong interaction potential and the structure of the weak transition potential.

Comments: 25 pages, 8 postscript figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. C