Distinctions between quark to Λ and Λ̅ longitudinal spin transfers in the semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering process were observed by the E665 and COMPASS Collaborations. There are suggestions that the difference between Λ and Λ̅ production is related to the asymmetric strange-antistrange distribution inside the nucleon. However, previous calculations are still too small to explain the experimental data. From a realistic consideration of quark to Λ fragmentation due to different flavors,

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... e investigate the strange quark contribution for Λ production and polarization. We find that the strange quark-antiquark asymmetry of the nucleon sea can be amplified into an observable quantity from the difference between Λ and Λ̅ polarizations after taking into account the larger probability of the Λ produced from the s quark fragmentation process compared to that from the u or d quark. The qualitative agreement between our calculation and the experimental data supports the existence of the intrinsic strange sea and the strange-antistrange asymmetry. Thus the polarization of Λ/Λ̅ does open a new window to probe the nucleon sea properties, especially the strange content and its quark-antiquark asymmetry.