Non-mesonic weak decay of A hypernuclei

Abstract The non-mesonic decay modes of Λ hypernuclei are examined. The one-nucleon induced decay (ΛN → NN) is studied in a shell-model framework using a meson-exchange picture. The total decay rates and parity-violating asymmetries reproduce the available experimental data. However, the model does not yet explain the partial rates and the resulting neutron- to proton-induced ratio Γ n /Γ p . The two-nucleon-induced decay rate (ΛNN -> NNN) is evaluated using the propagator formalism and the local-density approximation and is found to contribute about 15% to the total decay width of medium to heavy hypernuclei. The influence of this channel on the experimental determination of the ratio Γ n …