On the measured lifetime of light hypernuclei H-3(Lambda) and H-4(Lambda)

A statistical combination of the experimental lifetime estimations available in the literatures is performed for H-3(Lambda) and H-4(Lambda), including several recent measurements. The combined average values of the lifetime for H-3(Lambda) and H-4(Lambda) are respectively 216(-16)(+19) ps and 192(-18)(+20) ps with a reduced chi(2) of 0.89 and 0.48. A new insight into the lifetime estimation of the HypHI Phase 0 experiment by a Bayesian approach is also presented. In this approach, several different prior distributions including the combination of previous lifetime data and a Jeffrey prior are used. The principal mode and the smallest credible interval at 68% of the posterior distribution, given by the prior belief of the previous measurements, are 217(-16)(+19) ps and 194(-18)(+20) ps respectively for H-3(Lambda) and H-4(Lambda). The two employed approaches have revealed that the lifetime of hypernuclei H-3(Lambda) and H-4(Lambda) can be shorter than the Lambda-hyperon lifetime. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.