  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.
