The $np \to \Lambda p$ reaction within a one-meson-exchange model

With the advent of high precision proton accelerators, such as COSY in J\"ulich, or with medium energy accelerators like RCNP at Osaka, it may become possible to perform a direct study of the strangeness changing hadronic $np \to \Lambda p$ process. In this work we study this reaction using a one-meson-exchange weak potential and realistic $NN$ and $YN$ strong interactions to distort both the initial $np$ and the final $\Lambda p$ states. The calculated cross sections are very sensitive to the different mesons included in the weak transition, as well as to the strong $YN$ interaction model that generates the distorted final state.