Sala Seminarios IFIC (Edf. Institutos de Investigación) Jueves, 14 de Octubre de 2004 a las 12:00 PM
Resumen
Nuclear physics with strangeness is a challenging field: by extending the conventional nuclear physics models to accommodate the new degree of freedom (strangeness), a variety of new phenomena can be investigated.
Hypernuclei are bound systems composed of neutrons, protons, plus one or more strange baryons, like the hyperons Lambda and Sigma. Due to the lack of stable hyperon beams, the determination of the properties of the hyperon-nucleon (YN) and hyperon-hyperon (YY) interactions relies heavily
on binding energies and spectroscopic data of hypernuclei. In addition,the decay of hypernuclei through the non-mesonic mode offers a unique opportunity to study the baryon-baryon interactions in the weak sector.
Well determined baryon-baryon interactions (in all strangeness sectors)are crucial ingredients for understanding the physics of neutron star interiors where the density conditions favour the presence of hyperons, which make the equation-of-state softer thereby reducing the maximum mass
the star can support.
Strangeness in nuclear matter can also be present in the form of mesons. If the attraction felt by antikaons in the medium is high enough, it may be more energetically favorable, in the interior of a neutron star, to replace electrons with negatively charged antikaons, giving rise to the
phenomenon of kaon condensation. Although still a matter of debate, the many-body approaches developed recently do not support this claim. The knowledge of the kaon and antikaon properties are also relevant for the analysis of heavy-ion collision data.
In this talk I will present an overview of different problems and phenomena in the field of strange nuclear physics, paying a special attention to the astrophysical implications.
