Nonmesonic weak decay of light hypernuclei with coherent $\Sigma$ mixing

Abstract

Nonmesonic weak decays of the A=4, and 5 hypernuclei are studied. The short range parts of the hyperon-nucleon weak interactions are described by the direct quark (DQ) weak transition potential, while the longer range interactions are given by the $\pi$ and $K$ meson exchange processes. Virtual $\Sigma$ mixings of the coherent type are found to give significant effects on the decay rates of $^4_{\Lambda}{\rm He}$. A large violation of the $\Delta I = 1/2$ rule is predicted in the J=0 transition amplitudes.