Weak Decay of Λ\Lambda in Nuclei: Direct Quark Mechanism vs Meson Exchange

Nonmesonic decays of $\Lambda$ in nuclear medium and light hypernuclei are studied by using the $\Lambda N \to NN$ weak transition potential derived from the meson exchange mechanism and the direct quark mechanism. The long range part of the transition potential is described by exchanges of the pseudoscalar mesons ($\pi$, $K$, $\eta$), while the vector mesons ($\rho$, $\omega$, $K^\ast$) may be considered as the medium- and short-range part in the meson exchange picture. We propose the direct quark transition potential as the short range part, which is derived from the matrix elements of the $\Delta S=1$ effective weak Hamiltonian in the two baryon states. The results indicate that the direct quark contribution is significantly large and its behavior is qualitatively different from the vector meson exchanges. We also find that the decay rate is sensitive to the choice of form factor and that a soft cutoff must be used for the pion-baryon verteces so that the strong tensor transition is suppressed. We find that the $\pi + K + DQ$ results are compatible with experiment although the $n/p$ ratio is still too large. The $\pi^+$ decays of light hypernuclei are related to the \DI=3/2 amplitudes of the nonmesonic decay. The role of chiral symmetry for the pionic decays are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, Talk presented by Makoto Oka at the APCTP Workshop on Strangeness Nuclear Physics (SNP'99), February, 199

Suzaku Detection of Thermal X-Ray Emission Associated with the Western Radio Lobe of Fornax A

We present the results of X-ray mapping observations of the western radio lobe of the Fornax A galaxy, using the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) onboard the Suzaku satellite with a total exposure time of 327 ks. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and spatial extent of the diffuse thermal emission around the lobe by exploiting the low and stable background of the XIS. The diffuse thermal emission had been consistently reported in all previous studies of this region, but its physical nature and relation to the radio lobe had not been examined in detail. Using the data set covering the entire western lobe and the central galaxy NGC 1316, as well as comparison sets in the vicinity, we find convincingly the presence of thermal plasma emission with a temperature of ~1 keV in excess of conceivable background and contaminating emission (cosmic X-ray background, Galactic halo, intra-cluster gas of Fornax, interstellar gas of NGC 1316, and the ensemble of point-like sources). Its surface brightness is consistent with having a spherical distribution peaking at the center of the western lobe with a projected radius of ~12 arcmin. If the volume filling factor of the thermal gas is assumed to be unity, its estimated total mass amounts to ~10^{10} M_sun, which would be ~10^{2} times that of the central black hole and comparable to that of the current gas mass of the host galaxy. Its energy density is comparable to or larger than those in the magnetic field and non-thermal electrons responsible for the observed radio and X-ray emission.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Hidden photon CDM search at Tokyo

We report on a search for hidden photon cold dark matter (HP CDM) using a novel technique with a dish antenna. We constructed two independent apparatus: one is aiming at the detection of the HP with a mass of $\sim\,\rm{eV}$ which employs optical instruments, and the other is for a mass of $\sim5\times10^{-5}\, \rm{eV}$ utilizing a commercially available parabolic antenna facing on a plane reflector. From the result of the measurements, we found no evidence for the existence of HP CDM and set upper limits on the photon-HP mixing parameter $\chi$.Comment: Contributed to the 11th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, Zaragoza, June 22 to 26, 201