Proton spectra from Non-Mesonic Weak Decay of p-shell Lambda-Hypernuclei and evidence for the two-nucleon induced process

TL;DR

This paper presents new proton spectra data from non-mesonic weak decay of p-shell Lambda-hypernuclei, analyzing final state interactions and two-nucleon induced decay contributions, and provides the first experimental estimate of the two-nucleon stimulated decay rate.

Contribution

It offers the first experimental measurement of the two-nucleon stimulated decay rate in p-shell Lambda-hypernuclei and analyzes its dependence on hypernuclear mass number.

Findings

Linear dependence of FSI on hypernuclear mass number A.

First experimental value of Gamma2/Gammap=0.43±0.25.

Two nucleon stimulated decay rate to total decay rate is 0.24±0.10.

Abstract

New spectra from the FINUDA experiment of the Non Mesonic Weak Decay (NMWD) proton kinetic energy for 9(Lambda)Be, 11(Lambda)B, 12(Lambda)C, 13(Lambda)C, 15 (Lambda)N and 16(Lambda)O are presented and discussed along with the published data on 5(Lambda)He and 7(Lambda)Li. Exploiting the large mass number range and the low energy threshold (15 MeV) for the proton detection of FINUDA, an evaluation of both Final State Interactions (FSI) and the two nucleon induced NMWD contributions to the decay process has been done. Based on this evaluation, a linear dependence of FSI on the hypernuclear mass number A is found and for the two nucleon stimulated decay rate the experimental value of Gamma2/Gammap=0.43+-0.25 is determined for the first time. A value for the two nucleon stimulated decay rate to the total decay rate Gamma2/GammaNMWD=0.24+-0.10 is also extracted.