  The hypernuclear Auger effect, given by the de-excitation of a Lambda
hypernucleus by means of the transition of a Lambda hyperon from an initial to
a lower lying final single particle state in conjunction with neutron emission
from the core nucleus is studied in relativistic DDRH field theory. Baryonic
interactions are obtained from the Bonn NN potential by Dirac-Brueckner theory
and theoretically derived scaling laws for the meson-hyperon vertices. The
model is applied to the ^{209}_Lambda Pb hypernucleus. Lambda and nucleon bound
states as well as scattering states are calculated self-consistently in
mean-field approximation. The Auger spectra of the emitted neutrons are of
complex structure due to a huge combinatorial number of possible hypernuclear
transitions. The sensitivity of the neutron Auger spectra to changes in the
Lambda sigma and Lambda omega vertices are investigated. The theoretical
results show that experimental applications of the hypernuclear Auger effect
will require special efforts, e.g. by tagging on the energy of the initially
created hyperon.
