Examining CP Symmetry in Strange Baryon Decays

Abstract

Non-conservation of CP symmetry can manisfest itself in non-leptonic hyperon decays as a difference in the decay parameter between the strange-baryon decay and its charge conjugate. By comparing the decay distribution in the $\Lambda$ helicity frame for the decay sequence $\Xi^{-} \to \Lambda \pi^{-}$, $\Lambda \to p \pi^{-}$ with that of $\bar{\Xi}^{+}$ decay, E756 at Fermilab did not observe any CP-odd effect at the $10^{-2}$ level. The status of a follow-up experiment, HyperCP (FNAL E871), to search for CP violation in charged $\Xi-\Lambda$ decay with a sensitivity of $10^{-4}$ is also presented.