An Interpretation of Niu's Event in the Theory of theO(4) Symmetry

Abstract

An interpretation for a new cosmic ray event reported by Niu et al. is given on the basis of the 0(4) symmetry. We consider that Niu's particle, called X particle, is a boson belonging to a '19-112, 312 multiplet (isospin 1=1/2, and strangeness 8=3), and that the event is a sort of the nonleptonic decay X+-)n+n°. (In the 0(4) symmetry formulated by the present authors, the transition with IJSI>1 cannot in general be excluded from the category of the normal weak decay.) We show that all possible modes of the strong decay can be forbidden for the X particle or at least can be suppressed by our selection rules. The life time for the decay X+-'>n+n° is estimated by comparing to that for the decay Ks 0 -'>nn, and is found to be in good agreement with the observation.