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At least 19 records

Spectroscopic research of Lambda hypernuclei up to medium-heavy mass region with the (e,e'K + ) reaction

In 2009 (August-November), the E05-115 experiment was carried out at JLab to investigate L hypernuclei in the wide mass region up to A = 52 ($7\atop{Λ}$He, $10\atop{Λ}$Be, $12\atop{Λ}$B and $52\atop{Λ}$V) with the (e,e'K + ) reaction. This is the first attempt to investigate a medium heavy L hypernucleus with the (e,e'K + ) reaction. Experimentally, it is difficult to measure heavier L hypernuclei as background rates of particles which originate from electromagnetic processes are roughly in proportion to Z2 (Z: target proton number) in the (e,e'K + ) experiment. To perform the experiment, many experimental techniques have been developed and introduced such as optimization of the electron spectrometer configuration (tilt method), clean kaon identification, particle tracking under high multiplicity environment, precise energy scale calibration and so on. In the present thesis, experimental results of the elementary process of p(e,e'K + )L, L hypernuclei of $7\atop{Λ}$He, $10\atop{Λ}$Be, $12\atop{Λ}$B and $52\atop{Λ}$V are shown. Elementary processes of the electroproduction of L and Σ 0 , p(e,e'K + )L, Σ 0 were used for the absolute energy scale calibration of our spectrometer systems. A careful Monte Carlo simulation shows that the binding energy can be obtained with a systematic error of 0.11 MeV with our energy scale calibration method. A study of the elementary process of L is important to understand L hypernuclei as it is essential for theoretical calculations of L hypernuclei. The differential cross section of the p(e,e'K + )L reaction at the small K + scattering angle (theta-CM/gamma-K approx. 15.5°), the small Q 2 (approx 0.01 [GeV/c] 2 ) and the total energy of W = 1.92 GeV, where no experimental data exists was obtained to be 235 ± 13$+28\atop{-24}$ nb/sr. The ground state (1/2 + ) binding energy of $7\atop{Λ}$He was already measured in JLab E01-011 (2005). In the present work, the binding energy of 1/2 + state was determined to be B Λ = 5.55 ± 0.10 ±0.11 MeV with five times more statistic and smaller systematic errors than those of the previous experiment. The ground state binding energy is important to test the phe- nomenologically introduced CSB (Charge Symmetry Breaking) LN interaction for A = 7, T = 1 hypernuclear systems. In addition, a peak which is interpreted as 3/2 + and 5/2 + states was measured to be B Λ = 3.65 ± 0.20 ±0.11 MeV with sufficient statistic for the first time. Only three events of the ground state of $10\atop{Λ}$ Be had been observed in the emulsion experiments. The present experiment is the first spectroscopic measurement of 10/L-Be, and the detailed structures have been successfully measured for the first time. About three times better energy resolution was achieved in the present experiment (0.78 MeV in FWHM) than that of the mirror L hy- pernucleus, $10\atop{Λ}$B (2.2 MeV in FWHM) which was measured in the (π + ,K + ) experiment at KEK. The result of the ground state binding energy was obtained to be B Λ = 8.55 ± 0.07 ± 0.11 MeV which serves also to discuss about the CSB effect in the LN interaction. $12\atop{Λ}$B has been measured with the world best energy resolution of 0:5 MeV (FWHM) among the reaction spectroscopy of L hypernuclei. The results of $12\atop{Λ}$B are compared with the experimental results in the previous experiments to confirm the consistency. Furthermore, the obtained ground state binding energies of $12\atop{Λ}$B (B Λ = 11.38 ± 0.02 ± 0.11 MeV) and $52\atop{Λ}$V (B Λ = 21.88 ± 0.59 ± 0.11 MeV) indicate that the reported value of 12/L-C which has been used as a reference of binding energy measurements for the (π + ,K + ) experiments would be shallower by ~ 0.5 MeV. A pilot study for investigation in the medium-heavy mass region with the (e,e'K + ) experiment was performed by measuring $52\atop{Λ}$V. The ground state binding energy of $52\atop{Λ}$V has been measured, overcoming high multiplicity environment. The results are discussed with the ex- perimental results of 51/L-V measured at KEK. The present result is the first measurement of L's binding energy of the ground state without the emulsion reference in the medium-heavy mass region, which could be a substantial improvement in the information needed for understanding the single particle potential of L. In the present experiment, L hypernuclear measurement with a small systematic error of ~ 0.1 MeV by the (e,e'K + ) reaction has been established. Moreover, the present work opened a door to the heavier L hypernuclear measurement with the (e,e'K + ) reaction in the future.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Spectroscopic Study of L Hypernuclei with Electron Beams at Jefferson Lab

The missing mass spectroscopy of L hypernuclei with the (e, e'K^+) reaction was started from 2000 at Jefferson Lab. In this fifteen years, various hypernuclei (A = 7 - 52) including hyperon (L, S^0) productions have been studied with newly developed experimental techniques. The (e, e'K^+) reaction spectroscopy of L hypernuclei features its capability of absolute missing mass calibration and production of new species of hypernuclei which are the isospin partners of well studied hypernuclei by (K^-, pi-) and (pi^+, K^+) reactions. In this paper, we will review how we established the (e, e'K^+) spectroscopic study of hypernuclei.

Nakamura, Satoshi↗

Direct measurements of the lifetime of medium-heavy hypernuclei

The lifetime of a Λ particle embedded in a nucleus (hypernucleus) decreases from that of free Λ decay mainly due to the opening of the Λ N → NN weak decay channel. Furthermore, it is generally believed that the lifetime of a hypernucleus attains a constant value (saturation) for medium to heavy hypernuclear masses, yet this hypothesis has been difficult to verify. This paper presents a direct measurement of the lifetime of medium-heavy hypernuclei that were hyper-fragments produced by fission or break-up from heavy hypernuclei initially produced with a 2.34 GeV photon-beam incident on thin Fe, Cu, Ag, and Bi target foils. For each event, fragments were detected in coincident pairs by a low-pressure multi-wire proportional chamber system. The lifetime was extracted from decay time spectrum formed by the difference of the time zeros between the pairs. The measured lifetime from each target is actually a statistical average over a range of mass with mean about 1/2 of the target mass and appears to be a constant of about 200 ps. Although this result cannot exclude unexpected shorter or longer lifetimes for some specific hypernuclei or hypernuclear states, it shows that a systematic decrease in lifetime as hypernuclear mass increases is not a general feature for hypernuclei with mean mass up to A ≈ 130. On the other hand, the success of this experiment and its technique shows that the time delayed fissions observed and used by all the lifetime measurements done so far on heavy hypernuclei could likely have originated from hyper-fragments lighter than the assumed masses.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Electro-Production of Light Lambda Hypernuclei

Through the study of light hypernuclei, we can learn about hyperon nucleon interaction. The hypernuclear spectroscopy with electron beams is one of most powerful methods to study detailed structure of light hypernuclei thanks to its high energy resolution. With a decade of efforts at Jefferson Lab, the spectroscopy of Λ hypernuclei with an electron beam is now established. Observation of {sup 7}{sub Λ}He which gave the last missing binding energy of the A = 7, T = 1 iso-triplet hypernuclei provides an important experimental input for the charge symmetry breaking (CSB) effect of the ΛN interaction. Further study about A = 4 hypernuclear iso-doublet, {sup 4}{sub Λ}H and {sup 4}{sub Λ}He , is necessary and such experiments are now planned.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

First Measurement of 𝐴 = 4 Hypernuclei and Antihypernuclei at the LHC

In this Letter, the first evidence of the $^4_{\bar{Λ}}$$\overline{He}$ antihypernucleus is presented, along with the first measurement at the LHC of the production of (anti)hypernuclei with mass number 𝐴 = 4, specifically (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$H and (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$He. In addition, the antiparticle-to-particle ratios for both hypernuclei ($^4_{\bar{Λ}}$$\bar{H}$⁡/$^4_Λ$H and $^4_{\bar{Λ}}$$\overline{He}$/$^4_Λ$He) are shown, which are sensitive to the baryochemical potential of the strongly interacting matter created in heavy-ion collisions. The results are obtained from a data sample of central Pb-Pb collisions, collected during the 2018 LHC data taking at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{𝑠_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The yields measured for the average of the charge-conjugated states are found to be [0.78 ± 0.19⁢(stat) ± 0.17⁢(syst)] × 10 −6 for the (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$H and [1.08 ± 0.34⁢(stat)± 0.20⁢(syst)] × 10 −6 for the (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$He, and the measured antiparticle-to-particle ratios are in agreement with unity. The presence of (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$H and (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$He excited states is expected to strongly enhance the production yield of these hypernuclei. The yield values exhibit a combined deviation of 3.3⁢𝜎 from the theoretical ground-state-only expectation, while the inclusion of the excited states in the calculations leads to an agreement within 0.6⁢𝜎 with the present measurements. Additionally, the measured (anti)$^4_Λ$H and (anti)⁢$^4_Λ$He masses are compatible with the world-average values within the uncertainties.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Investigating the coalescence-inspired sum rule for light nuclei and hypernuclei in heavy-ion collisions

A data-driven idea is presented to test if light nuclei and hypernuclei obey the coalescence-inspired sum rule, i.e., to test if the flow of a light nucleus or hypernucleus is the summed flow of each of its constituents. Here, the mass difference and charge difference among the constituents of light nuclei and hypernuclei are treated appropriately. The idea is applied to the available data for $\sqrt{^sNN}$ = 3 GeV fixed-target Au + Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), published by the STAR Collaboration. It is found that the sum rule for light nuclei is approximately valid near midrapidity (-0.3 < $\mathcal{y}$ < 0), but there is a clear violation of the sum rule at large rapidity ($\mathcal{y}$ < -0.3). Further, the Jet AA Microscopic Transport Model (JAM), with baryonic mean-field plus nucleon coalescence, generates a similar pattern as obtained from the experimental data. In the present approach, the rapidity dependence of directed flow of the hypernuclei $^3_Λ$⁢H and $^4_Λ$H is predicted in a model-independent way for $\sqrt{^sNN}$ = 3 GeV Au + Au collisions, which will be explored by ongoing and future measurements from STAR.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Observation of Directed Flow of Hypernuclei $^3_Λ\text{H}$ and $^4_Λ\text{H}$ in $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV Au + Au Collisions at RHIC

We report here the first observation of directed flow ($v_1$) of the hypernuclei $^3_Λ\text{H}$ and $^4_Λ\text{H}$ in mid-central Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}$ = 3 GeV at RHIC. These data are taken as part of the beam energy scan program carried out by the STAR experiment. From 165 × 10 6 events in 5%–40% centrality, about 8400 $^3_Λ\text{H}$ and 5200 $^4_Λ\text{H}$ candidates are reconstructed through two- and three-body decay channels. In this work, we observe that these hypernuclei exhibit significant directed flow. Comparing to that of light nuclei, it is found that the midrapidity $v_1$ slopes of $^3_Λ\text{H}$ and $^4_Λ\text{H}$ follow baryon number scaling, implying that the coalescence is the dominant mechanism for these hypernuclei production in the 3 GeV Au + Au collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Study of clusters and hypernuclei production with the NICA/MPD experiment

Heavy-ion collisions provide the unique possibility to create and investigate hot and dense matter in the laboratory. At the initial stage of the reaction a QGP is formed, while the final stage is driven by the hadronization process and the formation of clusters. The capture of the produced hyperons by clusters of nucleons leads to the hypernuclei formation which is a very rare process at strangeness threshold energies. We report on the first results on the dynamical modeling of cluster formation with the combined PHSD + SACA (Parton–Hadron–Strings dynamics + Simulated Annealing Clusterization Algorithm) model at Nuclotron and NICA energies. The clusters selection in SACA is realized by a simulated annealing procedure to obtain the most bound configuration of fragments and nucleons. Based on present predictions of the combined model we study the possibility to detect such clusters and hypernuclei in the NICA/MPD detector.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Massive neutron stars and Λ-hypernuclei in relativistic mean field models

Based on relativistic mean field (RMF) models, we study finite Λ-hypernuclei and massive neutron stars. Here, the effective N-N interactions PK1 and TM1 are adopted, while the N-Λ interactions are constrained by reproducing the binding energy of Λ-hyperon at 1s orbit of ${}_{{\rm{\Lambda }}}{}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}$. It is found that the Λ-meson couplings follow a simple relation, indicating a fixed Λ potential well for symmetric nuclear matter at saturation densities, i.e., around ${V}_{{\rm{\Lambda }}}=-29.786\,\mathrm{MeV}$. With those interactions, a large mass range of Λ-hypernuclei can be described well. Furthermore, the masses of PSR J1614-2230 and PSR J0348+0432 can be attained adopting the Λ-meson couplings ${g}_{{\rm{\sigma }}{\rm{\Lambda }}}/{g}_{{\rm{\sigma }}N}\gtrsim 0.73$, ${g}_{{\rm{\omega }}{\rm{\Lambda }}}/{g}_{{\rm{\omega }}N}\gtrsim 0.80$ for PK1 and ${g}_{{\rm{\sigma }}{\rm{\Lambda }}}/{g}_{{\rm{\sigma }}N}\gtrsim 0.81$, ${g}_{{\rm{\omega }}{\rm{\Lambda }}}/{g}_{{\rm{\omega }}N}\gtrsim 0.90$ for TM1, respectively. This resolves the hyperon puzzle without introducing any additional degrees of freedom.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Recalibration of the binding energy of hypernuclei measured in emulsion experiments and its implications

In this work, the $ \Lambda $ separation energy for $ \Lambda $ hypernuclei, denoted $ B_\Lambda $, measured in 1967, 1968, and 1973 are recalibrated using the current best estimates of the mass of particles and nuclei. The recalibrated $ B_\Lambda $ are systematically larger (except in the case of $ ^6_\Lambda $He) than the originally published values by about 100 keV. The effect of this level of recalibration is very important for light hypernuclei, especially for the hypertriton. The early $ B_\Lambda $ values measured in 1967, 1968, and 1973 are widely used in theoretical research, and the new results provide better constraints for the conclusions of such studies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Impurity lattice Monte Carlo for hypernuclei

Abstract We consider the problem of including $$\varLambda $$ Λ hyperons into the ab initio framework of nuclear lattice effective field theory. In order to avoid large sign oscillations in Monte Carlo simulations, we make use of the fact that the number of hyperons is typically small compared to the number of nucleons in the hypernuclei of interest. This allows us to use the impurity lattice Monte Carlo method, where the minority species of fermions in the full nuclear Hamiltonian is integrated out and treated as a worldline in Euclidean projection time. The majority fermions (nucleons) are treated as explicit degrees of freedom, with their mutual interactions described by auxiliary fields. This is the first application of the impurity lattice Monte Carlo method to systems where the majority particles are interacting. Here, we show how the impurity Monte Carlo method can be applied to compute the binding energies of the light hypernuclei. In this exploratory work we use spin-independent nucleon–nucleon and hyperon–nucleon interactions to test the computational power of the method. We find that the computational effort scales approximately linearly in the number of nucleons. The results are very promising for future studies of larger hypernuclear systems using chiral effective field theory and realistic hyperon–nucleon interactions, as well as applications to other quantum many-body systems.

Frame, Dillon↗

Benchmark results for few-body hypernuclei

Here, the Non-Symmetrized Hyperspherical Harmonics method (NSHH) is introduced in the hypernuclear sector and benchmarked with three different ab-initio methods, namely the Auxiliary Field Diffusion Monte Carlo method, the Faddeev–Yakubovsky approach and the Gaussian Expansion Method. Binding energies and hyperon separation energies of three- to five-body hypernuclei are calculated by employing the two-body ΛN component of the phenomenological Bodmer–Usmani potential, and a hyperon-nucleon interaction simulating the scattering phase shifts given by NSC97f. The range of applicability of the NSHH method is briefly discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Energy dependence of light hypernuclei production in heavy-ion collisions from a coalescence and statistical-thermal model perspective

A comparison of light hypernuclei production, from Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD)+coalescence and the thermal model, in heavy ion collisions over a wide range of beam energies and system sizes is presented. We find that both approaches provide generally similar results, with differences in specific details. Especially the ratios of hypertriton to Λ are affected by both the source radius Δr of the coalescence procedure as well as canonical effects. On the other hand, the double ratio S 3 is almost independent of canonical effects, which is in contrast to coalescence. Thus, both the beam energy dependence and centrality dependence of S 3 can be used to constrain the hypertriton source radius. To do so the currently available data are not yet sufficient. Elliptic flow is shown to be unaffected by the source size of the nuclei and an almost perfect mass scaling of the elliptic flow is observed. Furthermore, our predictions further suggest that the existence of the H-dibaryon(ΛΛ) seems ruled out by ALICE data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Hypernuclei and the hyperon problem in neutron stars

The likely presence of $\Lambda$ baryons in dense hadronic matter tends to soften the equation of state to an extend that the observed heaviest neutron stars are difficult to explain. Here we analyze this "hyperon problem" with a phenomenological approach. First, we review what can be learned about the interaction of $\Lambda$ particle with dense matter from the observed hypernuclei and extend this phenomenological analysis to asymmetric matter. We add to this the current knowledge on non-strange dense matter, including its uncertainties, to conclude that the interaction between $\Lambda$s and dense matter has to become repulsive at densities below three times the nuclear saturation density.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Spectroscopic Investigation of p-Shell Lambda Hypernuclei by the (e,e'K + ) Reaction

Hypernuclear spectroscopy is a powerful tool to investigate Lambda-N interaction. Compared with other Lambda hypernuclei productions, electroproduction via the (e,e'K+) reaction has the advantage of exciting states deeply inside of the hypernucleus and achieving sub-MeV energy resolution. The E05-115 experiment, which was successfully performed in 2009, is the third generation hypernuclear experiment in JLab Hall C. A new splitter magnet and electron spectrometer were installed, and beam energy of 2.344 GeV was selected in this experiment. These new features gave better field uniformity, optics quality and made the tilt method more effective in improving yield-to-background ratio. The magnetic optics of the spectrometers were carefully studied with GEANT simulation, and corrections were applied to compensate for the fringe field cross talk between the compact spectrometer magnets. The non-linear least chi-squared method was used to further calibrate the spectrometer with the events from Lambda, Sigma0 and B12Lambda and uniform magnetic optics as well as precise kinematics were achieved. Several p-shell Lambda hypernuclear spectra, including B 12 Λ , Be 10 Λ , He 7 Λ , were obtained with high energy resolution and good accuracy. For B 12 Λ , eight peaks were recognized with the resolution of ~540keV (FWHM), and the ground state binding energy was obtained as 11.529 ± 0.012(stat.) ± 0.110(syst.) MeV. Be 10 Λ , twelve peaks were recognized with the resolution of ~520keV (FWHM), and the binding energy of the ground state was determined as 8.710 ± 0.059(stat.) ± 0.114(syst.) MeV. For He 7 Λ , three peaks were recognized with the resolution of ~730keV, and the ground state binding energy was obtained as 5.510 ± 0.050(stat.) ± 0.120(syst.) MeV. Compared with the published data of B 12 Λ from the JLab Hall A experiment, four extra peaks were fitted and interpreted thanks to the highest ever energy resolution and sufficient statistics. The determined binding energy of Be 10 Λ provides new information on charge symmetry breaking effect in the Lambda-N interaction. Compared with the results of He7Lambda from the E01-011 experiment, the ground state position is consistent with 4 times more statistics, and two extra peaks corresponding to excited states were recognized.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗