Nonmesonic decay of heavyΛhypernuclei

We have calculated the ratio of the rate for nonmesonic decay of the $\Lambda$ in nuclear matter to that of the free $\Lambda$ decay rate using a pion and rho meson exchange model. Including tensor force effects and a final-state correlation function generated from the Reid-soft-core potential, we estimate $\frac{{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{nm}}}{{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{free}}}$ to be of order 1. A discrepancy with respect to the prior estimate of Adams is resolved.