Role of the rho meson in the nonmesonic hypernuclear decay

Abstract

The ρ -meson contribution to the Λ N → NN process is studied in the nonmesonic decay of hypernuclei. It is found that the central potential of the ρ exchange is larger than its tensor part and, therefore, must be included. This is in contrast to the π -exchange term which is dominated by the tensor interaction.