Relativistic mean - field description of light Λ hypernuclei with large neutron excess

The Relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov model in coordinate space, with finite range pairing interaction, is applied to the description of Λ-hypernuclei with a large neutron excess. The addition of the Λ hyperon to Ne isotopes with neutron halo can shift the neutron drip by stabilizing an otherwise unbound core nucleus. The additional binding of the halo neutrons to the core originates from the increase in magnitude of the spin-orbit term. Although the Λ produces only a fractional change in the central mean-field potential, through a purely relativistic effect it increases the spin-orbit term which binds the outermost neutrons. The production mechanisms, spectroscopy, and decay modes of hypernuclear states have been the subject of many theoretical studies. Extensive reviews of the experimental and theoretical status of strange-particle nuclear physics can be found in Refs. [1, 2, 3]. The most studied hypernuclear system consists of a single Λ particle coupled to the nuclear core. And although strangeness in principle can be used as a measure of quark deconfinement in nuclear matter, a single Λ behaves essentially as a distinguishable particle in the nucleus. Theoretical models used in studies of hypernuclei extend from nonrelativistic approaches based on OBE models for Λ-N interaction, to the relativistic mean field approximation and quark-meson coupling models. However, our knowledge of the Λ-nucleus interaction , and of hypernuclear systems in general, is restricted to the valley of β-stability. In recent years the study of the structure of exotic nuclei, produced by radioactive nuclear beams, has become one of the most active fields in nuclear 1