About the strangeness of leptons

Abstract

Two versions of the universal Fermi interaction are compared. The first is the current-current interaction in a form suggested by the formalism developed previously by the author 5). The second satisfies the overall rule | ΔS| = 1 ( S is the total strangeness of leptons, baryons and mesons) and has a form suggested also by the mentioned formalism. In the second interaction, pairing of leptons depends, owing to the | ΔS| = 1 rule, on the relative strangeness of the other pair of particles coupled to these leptons (cf. ref. 10)). This second interaction cannot be transmitted by an intermediate vector field. In both cases leptonic Λ-decay rates are diminished compared to the original Gell-Mann-Feynman theory. In the second case these rates may easily be reduced to 1 10 of the original values. If the second interaction would be valid, the rule | Δ| = 1 wouldbe a general property of both leptonic and non-leptonic weak processes (cf. ref. 6)). No progress, however, has been achieved by using this interaction towards explaining non-leptonic weak processes in terms of the universal Fermi interaction. A Fermi interaction consistent with the isobar and parity properties of non-leptonic hyperon decays is given.