Towards Hypernuclei from Nuclear Lattice Effective Field Theory

TL;DR

This paper extends nuclear lattice effective field theory to include hyperons, enabling the calculation of hypernuclei properties and advancing understanding of hyperon-nucleon interactions and SU(3) symmetry breaking.

Contribution

It introduces a framework incorporating $ ext{Lambda}$ hyperons into NLEFT, allowing for the first calculations of hypernuclei in the medium-mass region.

Findings

Calculated $ ext{Lambda}$ separation energies for hypernuclei up to medium-mass.

Extended chiral interactions to include $ ext{Lambda}$ hyperons at leading order.

Provided insights into hyperon-nucleon and hyperon-nucleon-nucleon interactions.

Abstract

Understanding the strong interactions within baryonic systems beyond the up and down quark sector is pivotal for a comprehensive description of nuclear forces. This study explores the interactions involving hyperons, particularly the $\Lambda$ particle, within the framework of nuclear lattice effective field theory (NLEFT). By incorporating $\Lambda$ hyperons into the NLEFT framework, we extend our investigation into the $S = -1$ sector, allowing us to probe the third dimension of the nuclear chart. We calculate the $\Lambda$ separation energies ($B_{\Lambda}$) of hypernuclei up to the medium-mass region, providing valuable insights into hyperon-nucleon ($YN$) and hyperon-nucleon-nucleon ($YNN$) interactions. Our calculations employ high-fidelity chiral interactions at N${}^3$LO for nucleons and extend it to $\Lambda$ hyperons with leading-order S-wave $YN$ interactions as well as $YNN$ forces constrained only by the $A=4,5$ systems. Our results contribute to a deeper understanding of the SU(3) symmetry breaking and establish a foundation for future improvements in hypernuclear calculations.