Λ, bar{Λ} Polarization and Spin Transfer in Lepton Deep-Inelastic Scattering

The flavor and helicity distributions of the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons for both valence and sea quarks are calculated in a perturbative QCD (pQCD) based model. We relate these quark distributions to the fragmentation functions of the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$, and calculate the $z$-dependence of the longitudinal spin transfer to the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ in lepton deep-inelastic scattering (DIS). It is shown that the spin transfer to the $\Lambda$ is compatible with the first HERMES results at DESY and further tests are suggested. We also make predictions for the $z$-dependence of the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ longitudinal polarizations in neutrino (antineutrino) DIS processes. We investigate the sea contribution to the fragmentation functions, and we test a possible scenario where sea quarks in $\Lambda$ (or sea antiquarks in $\bar{\Lambda}$) are negatively polarized, whereas sea antiquarks in the $\Lambda$ (or sea quarks in $\bar{\Lambda}$) are positively polarized. The asymmetry of the polarized fragmentation functions of sea quarks and antiquarks to $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ provides a way to understand the different behaviour between the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ spin transfers observed in the recent E665 experiment at FNAL.