Sensitivity of Λ single-particle energies to the ΛN spin–orbit coupling and to nuclear core structure in p-shell and sd-shell hypernuclei

We introduce a mean field model based on realistic 2-body baryon interactions and calculate spectra of a set of p-shell and sd-shell Λ hypernuclei – ¹³ _ΛC, ¹⁷ _ΛO, ²¹ _ΛNe, ²⁹ _ΛSi and ⁴¹ _ΛCa. The hypernuclear spectra are compared with the results of a relativistic mean field (RMF) model and available experimental data. The sensitivity of Λ single-particle energies to the nuclear core structure is explored. Special attention is paid to the effect of spin–orbit ΛN interaction on the energy splitting of the Λ single particle levels 0p_3/2 and 0p_1/2. In particular, we analyze the contribution of the symmetric (SLS) and the anti-symmetric (ALS) spin–orbit terms to the energy splitting. We give qualitative predictions for the calculated hypernuclei.