Conclusion

Contributor: R. Chrien.

Because understanding strange matter forms a basic part of our continuing effort to understand cosmology and the state of matter under extreme conditions, it is essential to lay a secure foundation by knowing the fundamental interaction between hyperons and nucleons and indeed, among all baryon species. Because we lack intense baryon beams, the approach is the use of the hypernucleus as a laboratory to extract these interaction paramenters, using our knowledge of nuclear structure. This approach has been effectively used in p-shell hypernuclei and has established some limited knowledge of the parameters. It needs to be continued. We now have the tools to do that, using the germanium ball of E930 at the AGS D6 beam line. The superior resolution of this device and its large solid angle acceptance creates a veritable break-through in this field. We must use this tool immediately.

The experiments on double strangeness, on weak decays, and hypernuclear gamma-ray spectroscopy, will form an important part of the program at the Japanese Hadron Facility. That facility may be operational in another 5-6 years. The AGS can serve as the vital bridge to this research area; indeed it could produce important information-important to astrophysics, and to interpretation of heavy ion reactions- in a timely fashion. A gap of 5 years in this research area would be devastating to the field and inhibit the production of new students and fresh ideas.

Next: Acknowledgements Up: Hyperons and Hypernuclei Previous: Strangeness at RHIC