Hints of Entanglement Suppression in Hyperon-Nucleon Scattering

Abstract

Hyperon ($Y=\Sigma,\Lambda$)-nucleon ($N=n,p$) interactions are crucial for understanding the existence of neutron stars heavier than two solar masses. Amid renewed experimental efforts, we study $YN$ scatterings from the perspective of quantum information, focusing on whether spin entanglement is suppressed in the s-wave channel, which is observed in $np$ scattering and leads to enhanced global symmetries. Using global fits of phase shifts from experimental data, we find hints of entanglement suppression among the eight flavor channels in the strangeness $S=-1$ sector, similar to the $np$ case. One exception is the $\Sigma^+p$ channel, where conflicting global fits lead to inconclusive outcome. We then propose ''quantum'' observables in $\Sigma^+p$ scattering to help resolve the differing global fits.