Structure and production of medium-mass hypernuclei

Based on the recent progress in high-resolution spectroscopy using electromagnetic hypernuclear production, the prospects for medium-heavy hypernuclear spectroscopy are discussed. Updated theoretical excitation spectra calculated in the DWIA framework are presented for the typical medium-mass targets 19F, 28Si, 40Ca, and 52Cr. Because the spin-flip interaction is dominant in the elementary kaon photo-production amplitudes, and also the momentum transfer is large enough, the selective excitation of unnatural parity highest-spin states (natural parity ones for the LS-closed targets) is clearly demonstrated. These aspects provide unique opportunities to investigate series of Λ single-particle energies in the medium-heavy mass region that has not yet been explored with sub-MeV energy resolution.