ASYMMETRIES IN THE WEAK DECAY OF POLARIZED HYPERNUCLEI

Polarization observables and decay rates are evaluated for the nonmesonic weak decay of hypernuclei in a relativistic nuclear model. The single-particle bound and scattering states are obtained by solving the Dirac equation with large potentials. The total decay rates are verv sensitive to LAMBDA-N short-range correlations in the initial state. The experimental total and partial decay rates of He-5(LAMBDA), B-11(LAMBDA) and C-12(LAMBDA) cannot be reproduced with only pion- and kaon-exchange in the process LAMBDA-N --> NN. However, the proton asymmetries in the decay of B-11(LAMBDA) and C-12(LAMBDA) are in rough agreement with preliminary experimental data from KEK. These polarization observables are found to be sensitive to the final-state interaction of the ejected nucleons.