# THE np → Λp REACTION WITHIN A ONE-MESON-EXCHANGE MODEL

## 1 Formalism

The differential cross section per unit solid angle in the center-of-mass system for the reaction $`pnp\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is given by the expression

$$\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}=(2\pi )^4\frac{1}{s}\frac{|\stackrel{}{p}_F|}{|\stackrel{}{p}_I|}E_1E_2E_3E_4\frac{1}{(2s_1+1)(2s_2+1)}\underset{m_{s1}}{}\underset{m_{s2}}{}\underset{m_{s3}}{}\underset{m_{s4}}{}_{FI}^2,$$
(1)   
with $`\sqrt{s}=E_1+E_2=E_3+E_4`$ the total available energy in the center-of-mass system and $`\stackrel{}{p}_I`$ and $`\stackrel{}{p}_F`$ the relative momenta of the particles in the initial and final states respectively. In the distorted wave Born approximation the direct term of the weak transition matrix elements, $`_{FI}`$, can be written as

$`_{FI}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{S_FM_{S_F}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{S_IM_{S_I}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{TM_T}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_{s_3}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_{s_4}|S_FM_{S_F}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}t_3{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}t_4|TM_T`$ (2)   
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_{s_1}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_{s_2}|S_IM_{S_I}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}t_1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}t_2|TM_T`$   
$`\times `$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }r^2𝑑r[\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }N}^{()}(\stackrel{}{p}_F,\stackrel{}{r})]^{}\chi _{}^{}{}_{M_T}{}^{T}V^w(\stackrel{}{r})\mathrm{\Psi }_{NN}^{(+)}(\stackrel{}{p}_I,\stackrel{}{r})\chi _{M_T}^T}`$   
where $`V^w(\stackrel{}{r})`$ stands for the regularized weak potential , which contains the exchange of pseudoscalar ($`\pi ,\eta `$,K) and vector ($`\rho ,\omega `$,K) mesons. The distorted wave functions, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }N}^{()}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{NN}^{(+)}`$, are generated from the Lippmann-Schwinger equation using the Nijmegen 93  or Bonn B  strong $`NN`$ potentials and the Nijmegen soft-core  or Jülich  strong $`YN`$ ones.

## 2 Results

Fig. (1) illustrates the effects of the strong $`NN`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }N`$ interactions (for the Nijmegen potentials) on the cross sections, depicted as functions of the proton lab momentum (plab) and when only the one-pion-exchange (OPE) mechanism is considered in the weak transition. When form factors and strong distorsions are omitted (“free”) the cross section is an increasing function of plab. The effect of the strong repulsive part of the $`NN`$ interaction for this range of momenta is to reduce the cross section by a factor of about 2, and is visualized by the thin solid line. A substantial enhancement of the cross section in the low momentum region is observed when including $`\mathrm{\Lambda }N`$ distorsions, due to the attractive component of the $`YN`$ potential in this region of momenta. As plab increases the repulsive core of the $`YN`$ interaction starts having an influence in reducing the wave function at short distances, giving rise, as a consequence, to smaller cross sections. The opening of the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }N`$ channel, coupled to the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }N`$ one through the strong interaction, shows up as a step in the cross section at a proton lab momentum around $`1140`$ MeV/c.

The effect of adding the different mesons in the weak transition potential is visualized in Fig. (2). The differences in the cross sections depicted in Figs. (2a) and (2b) have to be understood as coming from the different $`YN`$ interaction models used in the calculation, since we have checked that, in the absence of $`p\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ distortions, the cross sections calculated with the scattered $`pn`$ waves, obtained from either the Nijmegen 93 or the Bonn B potentials, give practically the same results. In Fig. (2b) we can see that already at the level of only pion-exchange the Jülich A model shows a clear enhancement close to the $`p\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ threshold.

An explanation for the differences observed between Figs. (2a) and (2b) can be traced by analyzing Fig. (3), where we have plotted the cross sections obtained by removing the $`{}_{}{}^{3}S_{1}^{}^3S_1`$ component of the distorted $`p\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ wave function (dashed lines), the $`{}_{}{}^{3}D_{1}^{}^3D_1`$ one (long-dashed lines) and all the $`L=0`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }p`$ partial waves for both potentials (thin solid lines). The stronger $`{}_{}{}^{3}S_{1}^{}^3D_1`$ channel of the Jülich interaction, relative to the Nijmegen one, is the reason for the much more enhanced cross section at the $`N\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ threshold. Suppressing the $`{}_{}{}^{1}S_{0}^{}`$ partial waves affects the cross sections negligibly and cannot be seen in Figs. (3a) and (3b).

## References