Evidence for 6ΛH

Abstract

Evidence for the neutron-rich hypernucleus 6ΛH is presented from the FINUDA experiment at DAΦNE, Frascati, studying (π+, π-) pairs in coincidence from the K- +6Li \rightarrow 6 H+π+ production reaction followed by 6ΛH \rightarrow 6He + π- weak decay. The production rate of 6ΛH undergoing this two-body π- decay is determined to be (2.9\pm2.0)\cdot10-6/K-. Its binding energy, evaluated jointly from production and decay, is BΛ(6ΛH) = (4.0\pm1.1) MeV with respect to 5H+Λ. A systematic difference of (0.98 \pm 0.74) MeV between BΛ values derived separately from decay and from production is tentatively assigned to the 6ΛH 0+g.s. \rightarrow 1+ excitation.

5 pages, 3 figures