Hyperon photo- and electroproduction at CLAS

Abstract

The large acceptance and high multiplicity capabilities of the CLAS detector make it possible to study a wide range of previously unmeasured strange baryon production processes. Studies of the decay angular distributions of electroproduced strange baryons have yielded several interesting new results. The $\Lambda$(1520) electroproduction decay angular distributions shed light on the spin projections of the $\Lambda$(1520). Analysis of the decay angular distributions of the weakly decaying $\Lambda$(1116) have revealed the induced baryon polarization due to unpolarized incident electron beams. In addition to these topics, other features of the CLAS strange baryon program, such as photoproduction and virtual photon L-T decompositions, are also briefly summarized.