Pionic Final State Interactions and the Hypertriton Lifetime

TL;DR

This paper investigates how pionic final state interactions influence the decay of the hypertriton, finding an 18% contribution and deriving lifetime estimates consistent with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of pionic FSI effects on hypertriton decay and offers lifetime estimates aligned with recent experimental results.

Findings

Pionic FSI contribute approximately 18% to hypertriton decay.

Derived hypertriton lifetime values agree with world averages.

Results are consistent with recent ALICE Collaboration measurements.

Abstract

We analyze the contribution of pionic final state interactions (FSI) in the weak decay of the hypertriton. Focusing on the $^3$He channel, we find a contribution of the pionic FSI of the order of $18\%$. Assuming a fixed value for the branching ratio $R_3$ for the decay width into $^3$He over the decay width into $^3$He and $pd$ final states, we find values for the hypertriton lifetime that are consistent with the world average as well as recent measurements by the ALICE Collaboration.