The hypernuclei (4)(lambda)He and (4)(lambda)H: challenges for modern hyperon-nucleon forces

Study of Charge Symmetry Breaking in A = 4 hypernuclei in √SNN = 3 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC

In this paper, we present the measurement of the charge symmetry breaking in A = 4 hypernuclei in Au+Au collisions at √SNN = 3 GeV. The signal reconstruction and binding energy measurement of Λ4H and Λ4He, including corrections and systematic uncertainty evaluation, are discussed. Combined with the energy levels of excited states, our preliminary result of Λ binding energy difference for excited states is ΔBΛ(1+) = −190±130(stat.)±70(syst.) keV which shows a negative value and its magnitude is comparable to the result of ground states ΔBΛ(0+) = 130 ± 130(stat.) ± 70(syst.) keV. These results are compared with previous measurements and theoretical model calculations.

Study of charge symmetry breaking in A = 4 hypernuclei in √sNN = 3 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC

In these proceedings, we present the measurement of the charge symmetry breaking in A = 4 hypernuclei in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 3 GeV. The signal reconstruction and binding energy measurements of 4ΛH and 4ΛHe, including corrections on momentum, are discussed. Our result of Λ binding energy difference for ground states is ΔBΛ(0+) = 0.16 ± 0.14(stat.) ± 0.10(syst.) MeV. Combined with the energy levels of excited states, the difference for excited states is ΔBΛ(1+) = −0.16 ± 0.14(stat.) ± 0.10(syst.) MeV which shows a negative sign with a magnitude comparable to the result of ground states. These results are compared with previous measurements and theoretical model calculations.

Resolving the Λ Hypernuclear Overbinding Problem in Pionless Effective Field Theory

We address the Λ hypernuclear "overbinding problem" in light hypernuclei which stands for a 1-3 MeV excessive Λ separation energy calculated in _{Λ}^{5}He. This problem arises in most few-body calculations that reproduce ground-state Λ separation energies in the lighter Λ hypernuclei within various hyperon-nucleon interaction models. Recent pionless effective field theory (πEFT) nuclear few-body calculations are extended in this work to Λ hypernuclei. At leading order, the ΛN low-energy constants are associated with ΛN scattering lengths, and the ΛNN low-energy constants are fitted to Λ separation energies (B_{Λ}^{exp}) for A≤4. The resulting πEFT interaction reproduces in few-body stochastic variational method calculations the reported value B_{Λ}^{exp}(_{Λ}^{5}He)=3.12±0.02  MeV within a fraction of MeV over a broad range of πEFT cutoff parameters. Possible consequences and extensions to heavier hypernuclei and to neutron-star matter are discussed.

Induced Hyperon-Nucleon-Nucleon Interactions and the Hyperon Puzzle

We present the first ab initio calculations for p-shell hypernuclei including hyperon-nucleon-nucleon (YNN) contributions induced by a similarity renormalization group transformation of the initial hyperon-nucleon interaction. The transformation including the YNN terms conserves the spectrum of the Hamiltonian while drastically improving model-space convergence of the importance-truncated no-core model, allowing a precise extraction of binding and excitation energies. Results using a hyperon-nucleon interaction at leading order in chiral effective field theory for lower- to mid-p-shell hypernuclei show a good reproduction of experimental excitation energies while hyperon separation energies are typically overestimated. The induced YNN contributions are strongly repulsive and we show that they are related to a decoupling of the Σ hyperons from the hypernuclear system, i.e., a suppression of the Λ-Σ conversion terms in the Hamiltonian. This is linked to the so-called hyperon puzzle in neutron-star physics and provides a basic mechanism for the explanation of strong ΛNN three-baryon forces.

Ab initio Calculations of Charge Symmetry Breaking in the A=4 Hypernuclei

We report on ab initio no-core shell model calculations of the mirror Λ hypernuclei _{Λ}^{4}H and _{Λ}^{4}He, using the Bonn-Jülich leading-order chiral effective field theory hyperon-nucleon potentials plus a charge symmetry breaking Λ-Σ^{0} mixing vertex. In addition to reproducing rather well the 0_{g.s.}^{+} and 1_{exc}^{+} binding energies, these four-body calculations demonstrate for the first time that the observed charge symmetry breaking splitting of mirror levels, reaching hundreds of keV for 0_{g.s.}^{+}, can be reproduced using realistic theoretical interaction models, although with a non-negligible momentum cutoff dependence. Our results are discussed in relation to recent measurements of the _{Λ}^{4}H(0_{g.s.}^{+}) binding energy at the Mainz Microtron [A. Esser et al. (A1 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 232501 (2015)] and the _{Λ}^{4}He(1_{exc}^{+}) excitation energy [T.O. Yamamoto et al. (J-PARC E13 Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 222501 (2015)].

Observation of Spin-Dependent Charge Symmetry Breaking in ΛN Interaction: Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy of _{Λ}^{4}He

The energy spacing between the spin-doublet bound state of _{Λ}^{4}He(1^{+},0^{+}) was determined to be 1406±2±2  keV, by measuring γ rays for the 1^{+}→0^{+} transition with a high efficiency germanium detector array in coincidence with the ^{4}He(K^{-},π^{-})_{Λ}^{4}He reaction at J-PARC. In comparison to the corresponding energy spacing in the mirror hypernucleus _{Λ}^{4}H, the present result clearly indicates the existence of charge symmetry breaking (CSB) in ΛN interaction. By combining the energy spacings with the known ground-state binding energies, it is also found that the CSB effect is large in the 0^{+} ground state but is vanishingly small in the 1^{+} excited state, demonstrating that the ΛN CSB interaction has spin dependence.

Experimental review of hypernuclear physics: recent achievements and future perspectives

Since the shutdown of several old proton synchrotrons, which played a fundamental role in the second generation experiments in hypernuclear physics performed in Europe, USA and Japan, some new experimental setups aiming to achieve sub-MeV energy resolution have been operating for a long time. Over the last decade the hypernuclear physics community has been committed to carrying out several third generation experiments by exploiting the potential offered by new accelerators, such as a continuous electron beam machine and a ϕ-factory. Large data samples were collected on specific items thanks to dedicated facilities and experimental apparatuses. The attention was mainly focused on both high-resolution spectroscopy and the decay mode study of single Λ-hypernuclei. Nowadays this phase is over but, until recently, important and, to some extent, unexpected results were achieved. An updated review of selected experimental results is presented, as well as a survey of perspectives for future studies.

Ab initio description of p-shell hypernuclei

We present the first ab initio calculations for p-shell single-Λ hypernuclei. For the solution of the many-baryon problem, we develop two variants of the no-core shell model with explicit Λ and Σ(+),Σ(0),Σ(-) hyperons including Λ-Σ conversion, optionally supplemented by a similarity renormalization group transformation to accelerate model-space convergence. In addition to state-of-the-art chiral two- and three-nucleon interactions, we use leading-order chiral hyperon-nucleon interactions and a recent meson-exchange hyperon-nucleon interaction. We validate the approach for s-shell hypernuclei and apply it to p-shell hypernuclei, in particular to (Λ)(7)Li, (Λ)(9)Be, and (Λ)(13)C. We show that the chiral hyperon-nucleon interactions provide ground-state and excitation energies that generally agree with experiment within the cutoff dependence. At the same time we demonstrate that hypernuclear spectroscopy provides tight constraints on the hyperon-nucleon interactions.

Faddeev-Yakubovsky search for ( 4 )( Lambda Lambda)H

Evidence for particle stability of ( 4 )( LambdaLambda)H has been suggested by the BNL-AGS E906 experiment. We report on Faddeev-Yakubovsky calculations for the four-body LambdaLambdapn system using LambdaN interactions which reproduce the observed binding energy of (3)(Lambda)H(1 / 2(+)) within a Faddeev calculation for the Lambdapn subsystem. No ( 4 )( LambdaLambda)H bound state is found over a wide range of LambdaLambda interaction strengths, although the Faddeev equations for a three-body LambdaLambdad model of ( 4 )( LambdaLambda)H admit a 1(+) bound state for as weak a LambdaLambda interaction strength as required to reproduce B(LambdaLambda)(( 6 )( LambdaLambda)He).

Ab initio approach to s-shell hypernuclei 3lambdaH, 4lambdaH, 4lambdaHe, and 5lambdaHe with a lambdaN-sigmaN interaction

Variational calculations for s-shell hypernuclei are performed by explicitly including Sigma degrees of freedom. Four sets of YN interactions [SC97d(S), SC97e(S), SC97f(S), and SC89(S)] are used. The bound-state solution of 5lambdaHe is obtained and a large energy expectation value of the tensor lambdaN-sigmaN transition part is found. The internal energy of the 4He subsystem is strongly affected by the presence of a Lambda particle with the strong tensor lambdaN-sigmaN transition potential.