Hypernuclear physics: A brief past and bright future

Conference · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2000

OSTI ID:765579

Gibson, B F

A primary reason for investigating the structure and reactions of baryon systems is to achieve an understanding the fundamental baryon-baryon force in the realm of non-perturbative QCD. Few-baryon systems play an essential role, because one can calculate complete solutions to test a particular baryon-baryon interaction ansatz. Hypernuclei, exotic nuclei containing one or more hyperons (Y = {Lambda}, {Sigma}, or {Xi}) are crucial to this investigation, because they permit one to probe models based upon our experience in the nonstrange sector; they lie outside of the conventional world where our models were developed. That is, we can test whether our sophisticated models of the nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction extrapolate successfully beyond the zero strangeness region in which the parameters were determined, or whether the models merely interpolate. The presence of the strangeness degree of freedom (flavor) adds a new dimension to our evolving picture of nuclear physics. We shall see that the physics of hypernuclei is both novel and puzzling, stretching our intuition and analysis capability beyond that developed during the more than half century that we have explored conventional nuclear physics. The hypernuclear sector of hadronic physics is not just a simple extension of zero-strangeness phenomena.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 765579
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-00-5026
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BARYON-BARYON INTERACTIONS
BARYONS
HYPERNUCLEI
HYPERONS
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
NUCLEI
PHYSICS
PROBES
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
STRANGENESS