A theory of elementary couplings III

Abstract

We further develop a recent method, based on compensation between Feynman diagrams, for obtaining a priori information on the spectrum and interactions (weak and strong) of the elementary particles. The theory is based on hadron octets or nonets of spin zero and one half, together with vector bosons including photons. It has the necessary ingredients of a realistic broken-symmetry gauge theory, the compensation method giving the rules for breaking the symmetry. In this article, the scope of the compensation principle is greatly enlarged, thanks to the inclusion of scalar mesons. The main point of this paper is to show in detail how the strong (Yukawa) couplings may be completely determined by the compensation relations. The numerical results are worked out in the limit of exact SU(3) for the weak couplings. The eta and charged kaon lifetimes can now be computed, and come out in fair agreement with the data. The strong ΣΛπ coupling is no longer zero, as in parts I and II, but is still smaller than the current experimental estimates. The accurate mass formula N −1+ Ξ −1+ Σ −1 = 6( N+ Ξ) −1 is rederived in a new framework, and appears to be connected with a simple SU(3)-breaking weak or superweak interaction.