Hyperon decays and spectrum generating SU(3)

The research program described in this review is aimed at describing the properties of relativistic one-hadron systems by an algebra of observables, in analogy to the nonrelativistic description of atoms. This formalism has recently been applied to the leptonic and semi-leptonic decays of pseudoscalar mesons, and was shown to be capable of predicting both the suppression of strangeness changing decays and the value of the form factor ratio xi in K/sub l3/ decay. A preliminary description of the leptonic decays of hyperons indicates that second class matrix elements are predicted as a consequence of a precise formulation of SU(3) symmetry breaking. A chi2-fit to the experimental data indicates that this preliminary model is an improvement over the usual Cabibbo model, and points the way for further theoretical work. It is hoped that this program will lead to a model for the leptonic decays of hadrons which improves upon the results of the Cabibbo model and which explains some of the assumptions of that model