Strangeness-changing response functions:an alternative approach to hypernuclear structure

We study strangeness-changing response functions as an alternative description of hypernuclear structure. Hypernuclear states are treated in the same manner as any other conventional nuclear excitation that emerges from the response of the nuclear ground state to an external probe. The nuclear response is calculated using a random-phase approximation to an effective relativistic mean-field model that reproduces bulk properties of normal nuclei. The relevant meson-baryon vertices are constrained by imposing SU(3)-flavor symmetry, while the residual hyperon-particle - nucleon-hole interaction is assumed to be mediated by the two lightest S = -1 mesons: the pseudoscalar kaon and its vector partner the K*(892). We use this model to analyze the spectra of oxygen and calcium hypernuclei.