IL NUOVO CIMENTO

VOL. IX, N. 3

1 Agosto 1958

On the Universal Fermi Interaction (*)(~),

S. A. BLUD_~IAN

Radiation Laboratory, UMcersity o] Uali/or~da - Berkeley, Cal.

(ricevuto il 6 Maggio I958)

Summary. -The parity-non-conserving, ,V-A form of Fermi interaction is derived from a principle of invariance under a continuous group of transformations, in analog)- with the ordinary gauge-invariance derivation of the minimal electromagnetic interaction of char~ed particles. This assumption is a stronger restriction on the form of Fermi interactions than t h a t invoked by SUDARSHAX and MARSltAK, (;ELL-~IANN and FEYN_~IAN, and SAKURAI, and leads to additional predictions that are subject to experimental check. If these transformations were symmetry transformations of the entire Lagran~ian, then the ~- and ~-decay coupling constants would be precisely equal. The implications of extending this Fermi gauge invariance to a group depending on space-time functions is discussed. The possibility t h a t Fermi interactions involving change of strangeness are unallowed is considered, and the results of assuming a universal Yukawa V-A parity-non-conserving interaction are tabulated. Such a Yukawa interaction, involvin~ one new coup]in,o' constant, leads to reasonable K-meson and hyperon decay rates and allows ,~-meson decay into ~z+v without any al)preciab]e decay into e + v .

1.

Introduction.

Tile r e c e n t e x p e r i m e n t a l

e v i d e n c e on t h e e l e c t r o n a s y m m e t r y

f r o m po-

l a r i z e d n u c l e i or m u o n s , on t h e e l e c t r o n p o l a r i z a t i o n , on t h e n u c l e a r recoil, a n d on t h e ~ - d e c a y ff v a l u e t e n d s to i n d i c a t e t h a t in b o t h r~ a n d ~ d e c a y t h e f o u r - f e r m i o n i n t e r a c t i o n is of t h e s a m e s t r e n g t h g a n d of t h e s a m e V - A f o r m ,

(1)

g~7~(1 + ~5)T+~/)l~2~!~t (~[

@ ~'5)T ~02 @ tl, C.

(*) Reported on at tile New York meeting o/the American Physical Society, Jan. 29 1957; Bull. Am. Phys. Soc., Ser. II. 3. 20 (1958). (+) This work was done under the auspices of tile I'.S. Atomic Energy Commi.~sion.

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s.A. BLUDMAN

H e r e T are charge-raising and -lowering operators and ~,~ refers to the electronneutrino, ~02 to the n e u t r o n - p r o t o n or m u o n - n e u t r i n o field operators. I t has also been conjectured t h a t the same interaction obtains in electron or ~ c a p t u r e and perhaps in other F e r m i interactions, although definitive experiments h a v e not y e t been done (J). A theoretical basis for this V-A form of interaction has recently been suggested b y SU])ARS~AS" and 5IAI~SHAI~ (2), FEYN3IAN and GELL-MANN (a), and SAKtr~A[ (4). These authors all assume t h a t the F e r m i interaction obtains b e t w e e n pairs of charged and n e u t r a l fermions and then, m o t i v a t e d b y principles of (~ehirality invariance )) (2), use of t w o - c o m p o n e n t fields (~), or , massreversal invariance ~) (4), t h e y assume, t h a t the F e r m i interactions are i n v a r i a n t under the discrete t r a n s f o r m a t i o n (2') p -+~'=iys~ ,

applied to all F e r m i fields separate]y. T h e y are then led directly to the paritynon-conserving charge-exchange - A interaction, Eq. (1). N o w the vectorial n a t u r e of the F e r m i interaction suggests a stronger ass u m p t i o n analogous to the a s s u m p t i o n of gauze invariance in electrodynamics. I n this p a p e r we consider the consequences of assuming for the F e r m i interactions an invarianee u n d e r a co~tin~eous group of t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s applied to various fermions simultaneo~sly. One m o t i v a t i o n for this farther-reaching a s s u m p t i o n in t h a t the charge-exchange ch'tracter, expressed b y the operators T~ in Eq. (1), can be incorporated more naturally. A second m o t i v a t i o n is t h a t certain conservation laws, to be discussed in Se(.t. 3, would follow if the entire Lagrano'ian were i n v a r i a n t under these continuous F e r m i R'auge transformations. Since the mass terms, a n d p r o b a b l y also the strong interactions, are n o t inv a r i a n t under these t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s , we will be led to speculate on the origin of the strong interactions and the blocking of the s y m m e t r y of the weak interactions. I n Sect. 3 we also discuss two structure problems connected with the weak interaction: the (~ value, and the Gamow-Teller F e r m i coupling constant ratio. Sect. 4 discusses the possibility of allowing F e r m i gauge t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s which depend a r b i t r a r i l y on space-time. This leads to a vector meson i n t e r m e d i a r y field il~ F e r m i interactions, with serious implications t h a t are discussed. (~) G. PcePI: Nuovo Cimettto, 5, 587 (1948); O. ]~LE1N: Nature, 161, 897 (1948); T. l). LEE, M. ROSENBLUTtl: and C. N. YAN(~: Phys. Rev., 75, 905 (1949); J. TrOMNO and J. VV'~tEEL]~R:Rev. Mod. Phys., 21. 153 (1949). (2) E. C. G. SUDARSHAN and R. E. 3[ARSIIAK: Padue*-Venice I~fer~atio~al Co~i]eve~ee. .~epteraber, 1957; Pl, ys. ICev., 109, 1860 (1958). (a) R. P. F]~YN)tA~- and M. G]~LL-MA_~-X:Phys. Bee., 109, 193 (1958). (~) J. J. SAKURAI: NUOVO CimeMo, 7, 649 (1958). (5) 3[. GELL-MANN" Suppl. N.~eoro Cime~to, 4. ~48 (1956).

ON

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4;JO

We are inclined to believe t h a t the Fermi interactions do not ~llow changes in strangeness. Since this p h f l o s o p h y ~ w h i e h is in agreement with experimental results on the absence of hyperon } d e c a y - - i s more restrictive t h a n the usual one (~), we are led to introduce in the Appendix a universal weak u k a w a interaction. This additional interaction (with one new coupling constant) is sufficient to explain the observed rates of most meson and hyperon decay processes, and leads to verifiable predictions about the asymmetries and nucleon polarizations to be expected in hyperon decay. The weak interactions have been generally regarded solely as destructive of the reflection and charge-conjugation s y m m e t r y laws. The point of view suggested in this paper, on the other hand, is t h a t the weak interactions actually show some s y m m e t r y not shared b y the strong interactions.

2. - A s y m m e t r y principle for the Fermi i n t e r a c t i o n s .

2"1. Fermi gauge transjormations. - If mass differences are neglected, the members of a charge multiplet are distinguished only b y the electromagnetic interaction. This equivalence can be expressed for the neutron-proton, electronneutrino, and muon-neutrino systems b y arranging these fermions into two component spinors in charge space, ~o~= (pn), (ue), (v~), and asserting invarianee n n d e r a r b i t r a r y u n i t a r y unimodular transformations. We assume t h a t the weak interactions are those distinguishing ~o+= (1 q-ya)~0 from ~ _ = (1--75)~,0 in the same way as the electromagnetic field disting=uishes between the projections 1(1q-r3)~o and 1(1--z3)~0. Then we identify the weak interactions as those that are invariant under the transformation

(2)

- ~ V ' = exp [i(1 +75) x.to]~v.

This transformation is a d m i t t e d b y the interactions ~Yt, F and ~7~,75~o. Because ~'a,,y, ~75~0, and ~ 0 couple ~+ and ~_, such terms in the Lagrangian, including particularly the ordinary mass term, are not invariant under transformation (2). The transformation (2) is a canonical transformation generated infinitesimally b y the charge-space vector (3) where

F : f d % , J ~' ,

(4)

J . == ~ i~,,, (1 + ~)xw,
J

436

s.A. BLUDMAN

is an H e r m i t i a n current density composed additively of the fermion doublets introduced. B y use of the a n t i c o m m u t a t i o n relations for ~pj, Eq. (4) m a y be written m o r e s y m m e t r i c a l l y :

(4')
j

--c

where ~v~= C~, with t~y~, Thus we h a v e

==

y~,, is the charge conjugate to ~.

(5)

[ P , w/] -

(1 + ),~)':v,,,

IF, V'~] = - - }(1 __ ;~)x ~~,

Particle and antiparticle contribute with opposite signs to F, which we entitle the F e r m i charge (with three c o m p o n e n t s !) or F e r m i spin. Since F~ and F , do not c o m m u t e with the electric charge, states of definite charge cannot be diagonal in F~,~. (any m o r e t h a n t h e y can be diagonal in the charge-conjugation operator, say). I n d e e d it is precisely the electromagnetic field t h a t distinguishes the m e m b e r s of the degenerate ~, doublets. N o t e t h a t the u p p e r and lower m e m b e r s of ~f are positive and neutral for the nucleons, and n e u t r a l and negative for the leptons. This is s u m m a r i z e d in the f o r m u l a for the charge
~/ = T~ -f- 1/ ,

where the charge displacement l is 1 for nucleons and - - 1 for leptons. 2"2. M i n i m a l couFling. - I n addition to assuming F e r m i gauge invariance of the weak interactions, we also assume t h a t the weak interactions are specifically the interactions of this current with itself,

(6)

This a s s u m p t i o n corresponds exactly to the a s s u m p t i o n of minimal interaction in electrodynamics. The interaction (6) contains three kinds of terms: a) The p a r t involving 3= = (vl its) and i-/= j, (7)
~. g ( i v . i ) ( j v _ j ) = g[(pn)(ev) 47 ( p n ) ( , v ) (ve)(pv) 4- h. c.] ,
ii

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leads to the familiar parity-non-conserving V-A charge-exchange interactions. (We use an abbreviated notation in which i, j, p, rt, e, ~l, etc.. stand for the corresponding field operators and the spin matrices 7,,(1--y~) lmve been suppressed.) b) The p a r t involving ~ (8) and i = j

~ g(iv+i)(ir_i) = g[(pn)(+~p) + (vc)(ev) .-k (v//)(t~)]

i

leads to weak lepton-lepton and nucleon-nucleon scattering processes whi(,h have been already suggested b y ]~EYy)[:~~ and GELL-3I.~5~ (3). C) ] h e p a r t involving ~3 leads to (i) weak nucleon-nucleon scattering processes, (9)

~ (pp-nn)(pp->~n) ;
(ii) weak nucleon-lepton processes,

(10) and

g (pp-nn)(2~-ee-/~tt) ;
(iii) weak lepton-lepton scattering processes,

(11)

g{(vv)(vv) + ~(ee)(ee) -k }((~/0(!~P) (ee)(p/~)- ( r v ) ( e e ) - (fq~)(vv)}.

Provided the spinor fields anticommute, the V-A interaction is invariant under reordering of the four spinors. Hence some of the terms in Eqs. (9) and (11) are equivalent, except for coefficient, to those included in Eq. (8). Consequently : a) The F e y n m a n - G e l l - M a n n processes (~e)(cv) and (~#)(f~) are actually not expected on the present theory because of a cancellation between t h e terms in Eq. (8) and (11). b) The weak process (pn)(np), if it could be observed, would actually occur with a coupling constant g/l. c) Other scattering processes not considered b y ]fEYNMAN m~d GELLM:~XN~ are suggested b y Eq. (10). These results, which m a y be subject to experimental check, are necessary consequences of our development. If v+ and z- have been introduced in order to obtain the ordinary charge-exchange interactions (7), then v3 must occur if a group is to be defined.

q:,)~

S.

A.

I~.LUDMAN

2"3. H o w universal is the .Fermi interactio~t? - Because each Yi was assumed to contain a neutral and a c h a r g e d - p a r t M e field, pairs like (e-e-) or (e-fz-) do not appear. This excludes as first-order processes the decays

[ ~z- --> e- + - ( 02) K -~ ~.+ + e-

or or

e---e~+e ,~ -- ,

which have, in fact, never been observed. The F e r m i gauge t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s can certainly be extended to other pairs consisting of m e m b e r s of a charge multiplct such as (E=.-), (E+X), (yoE-), where X 0 = ( A + E ) , Y o = ( A o Eo). The rate of ~ decay = - - + E + e - q - ~ depends on the yet-to-be-discovered ; z o "a- mass difference. The ~ decays, E= -+ E proceed at a r a t e slower t h a n 6 per second. I t would seem, on the other hand, to be an open question w h e t h e r or not pairs like (pA), consisting of m e m b e r s of di]]ere~t charge multiplets, are subject to F e r m i gauge transformations. Inclusion of such a pair in the F e r m i interaction was suggested b y GELI:MAs'a- (~) in order t h a t the strange-particle decays be, at least in principle, a consequence of some universal F e r m i interaction. Until we h a v e an over-all s y m m e t r y principle assigning b o t h weak and strong interaction properties to all particles, our philosophy ought to be to allow the presence or absence of decays like (15) E, A ~ n + e +

to tell us w h a t is the structure seen b y the F e r m i interactions. The A p p e n d i x to t h i s p a p e r p r e s e n t s Fig. 1. ~ The basic weak Yukawa interaction a t r e a t m e n t of meson and h y p e r o n lhat is assumed, along with the Puppi triangle, in the Appendix to this paper. decays based on a phenomenologieal universal weak Y u k a w a V - h interaction. Suck a direct Y u k a w a interaction (which m i g h t actually follow f r o m the F e r m i interaetions) aetualIy gives reasonable values for the meson and hyperon deea 5 rates. I f sueh a weak Yukawa interaetion appears as an e l e m e n t a r y interaction alongside the eonveutional P u p p i triangle, t h e n the seheme of the w e a k interactions is t h a t of Fig. 1. instead of the Puppi-Gell-Mann tetrahedron,

3. -

Is the

Fermi

current

conserved

.9

I n v a r i a n c e of the action integral f/?d'.~ under an ~ - p a r a m e t e r group of continuous t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s is equivalent to a set of .n integral conservation laws. E l e c t r o m a g n e t i c charge is, so far as we know, absolutely conserved,

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so t h a t ordinary gauge invarianee m u s t be an exact s y m m e t r y law. I f the F e r m i gauge t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s were absolute s y m m e t r y transformations, F would be absolutely conserved. This would give expression to the conservation of F e r m i charge ~long with electromagnetic charge and would explain (3) the at least a p p r o x i m a t e equality of the V and A coupling constants in ~ and ~z decay. I n this section we wish to consider the limitations, imposed b y the strong interactions, to the conception t h a t F is conserved and Eq. (2) is a s y m m e t r y operation of the LagranR'ian. 3"1. Comparison o/coupling coJ~stants i~ ~ a~d ~ decay: size effects. - FEYh")L~_~ and G E L L - M A ~ , in order to explain the a p p a r e n t equality of the coupling constant g~ and g:~ in ~ and ~ decay, h a v e considered introducing additional meson-fermion interactions so t h a t the t o t a l F e r m i current, consisting of the fermion p a r t in Eq. (4) plus a p a r t bilinear in the meson fields, m a y be conserved. Because for spinless particles the obvious analogue to y~ is identically zero, this is difficult to envisage theoretically. I n addition, the e x p e r i m e n t a l evidence on the ~ value in ~ decay and on the ratio of Gamow-Teller and F e r m i coupling constants in ~ decay, if t a k e n seriously, requires two different kinds of s t r u c t u r e in these weak interactions: a) Size effects h a v e been invoked (6,~) in ~z decay to explain the value 0 - - ( 0 . 6 8 0 . 0 2 ) ~ ~ m e a s u r e d (8). The simplest kind o f non-locality (6) in which the (vfz) and (e,) Currents are assumed to interact at two different points leads to ~ ~ ~ if the weak interaction is supposed to take place through "~ single i n t e r m e d i a r y field. W i t h a more complicated three- or four-point interaction involving fermions in i n t e r m e d i a t e states, a o value less t h a n ~- can be obtained (7). I n a n y case, g:~ times a form factor ( ~ 0.9) is w h a t appears in the ~ lifetime and w h a t is r e m a r k a b l y equal to g~. (9). b) The evidence indicates (~o) t h a t tbe Gamow-Teller and F e r m i coupling constants are not precisely equal in ~ decay,

04)

g~/g~ A / V ! -- 1.15 :z 0.O5.

I f the bare coupling constants are equal this can be a t t r i b u t e d only to ~ or

(6) T. D. LE~ and C. N. YAN(;: Phys. Rev., 108, 1611 (1957). (7) S. BLUDMAN and A. KLEIN': Phys. Rer., 109, 559 (1958). (~) C. P. SARGENT, M. RINEHART, L. M. LEDER,~IAN, and K. G. ROGERS: Phys. Rev., 99, 885 (1955); K. CROWE: Bull. Am. Phys. Soc., Ser. If, 2, 206 (1957); L. ROSEN~S0~': Phys. Rev,. 109, 958 (1958). (~) This observation is originally due to R. GATTO, UCRL.(privatecommunication). (~0) ~ee the review by L. 3hCtIEL: Iiev. Mod. Phys., 29, 223 (1957).

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K meson corrections t h a t are different for V and A couplings (H). If the F e r m i current were absolutely conserved there would be no such corrections. The present d a t a thus indicate finite but small structure corrections to the idea of a point F e r m i interaction with exactly universal coupling constants. This i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is subject to additional verification in two ways: a) g~ and g~ can be c'/refully c o m p a r e d b y me'lsuring the ratio of capture to K c a p t u r e in the same nucleus. Because, in the two cases, the same pion structure b u t far different m o m e n t u m transfers are involved, this exp e r i m e n t probes the ,~-decay structure invoked in connection with the o value. b) The effect of the pion cloud can be studied b y comparing ~z capture and ~ d e c a y in which the same m o m e n t u m transfer is involved. I f the ~-eapt u r e / ~ - d e c a y ratio were studied as a function of Z, one m i g h t hope to smooth out the uncertainties connected with nuclear structure. J u d g i n g f r o m the m a g n i t u d e of the deviation of ~ from ~ and of gA from gv in ~ decay, (10--20)~o structure effects m i g h t be expected in experiments of this kind" 3"2. Role oj the strong it~teractions. - I f all particles were originally massless, so t h a t the F e r m i gauge transformations were s y m m e t r y operations of the Lagrangian, the physical particles would, in the presence of the F e r m i interactions, r e m a i n of zero mass and of definite (left) handedness. T h e y would still r e m a i n so in the presence of the minimal electromagnetic interactions, which are of the form ~y~pA:~. Physical particles would then be labeled entirely b y the quasigeometrical attributes of handedness and charge. Anomalous m a g n e t i c - m o m e n t interactions ~%.,y~F ~" and scalar or pseudoscalar meson-interaction t e r m s in the Lagrangian, on the other hand, do not, a d m i t the F e r m i gauge transformations. This t e m p t s one to speculate t h a t the inertial t e r m s ~m~, like a n y ~ a ~ , , F ' ~ terms, are related to those same mysterious effects t h a t introduce the strong meson couplings ~py~x-ep~p or ~(p~p into the Lagrangian. According to this view, all these effects are c o m m o n consequences of the b r e a k d o w n of the s y m m e t r y , revealed in the w e a k interactions, b y the introduction of some dimension of mass or length (~). This situation corresponds qualitatively to the fact the neutrino, which has neither strong mesonic nor electromagnetic coupling, is massless, whereas b a r y o n s t h a t h a v e strong interactions are hea'y, and leptons t h a t h a v e electrom a g n e t i c b u t not mesonic interactions, are light. I t is i m p o r t a n t to note t h a t because V and A interactions a d m i t the F e r m i gauge group, the lepton mass

(11) R. FINK]SLSTFAN and i~. A. ,~[OSZKOSWKI: Phys. Rev., 95, 1695 (1954); ~. ,~. GERSCIITEIN and IA. B. ZEL'DOVIC~I:Soviet Physics (JETP), 2, 576 (1956); B. ,~TECI~: Zeils. ]. Pl~ys., 145, 319 (1956); M. Ross: Pl~ys. Rev., 104, 1736 (1956). (12) gee J. SCHWlN'~ER: An~, Phys., 2, 407 (1957).

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c a n n o t be a t t r i b u t e d e n t i r e l y to m i n i m a l e l e c t r o m a o ' n e t i c i n t e r a c t i o n , b u t m u s t b e d u e , in t h e first p l a c e , to t h o s e s a m e m y s t e r i o u s effects w h i c h i n t r o d u c e parameter of m ~ s s d i m e n s i o n a l i t y .

One interesting way for a s y m m e t r y law to be broken has been suggested by the work of H]~ISENBERG(13): perhaps the Lagrangian contains no mass terms and admits the Fermi gauge group, b u t regularity conditions on the propagators produce the observed masses, destroy the symmetry, and at the same time introduce the effects of strong interaction. (In HEISENB~rtG'S work the Lagrangian contained the i s o s y m m e t r y of the strong interactions which was somehow destroyed by the weaker electromagnetic effects introduced along with the commutation relations. We find it easier to see the greatest symmetry, closest to the vacuum, in the weakest inter a c t i o n s - g r a v i t a t i o n , ~ decay and meson and hyperon decay, electromagnetism--because these interactions seem more susceptible to a (, geometric,~ treatment. We see little hope for incorporating the strong interactions into the space-time contimmm. The a t t e m p t to develop interaction as consequence of a local s y m m e t r y principle, the idea of the b field, has not been fruitful where originally proposed in connection with the ~-meson interactions(~*,ls) but. as discussed in the next section, is a possibility for the weak interactions.)

4. -

Local Fermi

gauge

transformations.

I n E q . (2) o n l y r e s t r i c t e d F e r m i gauo'e t r a n s f o l m a t i o n s (o ~ a r b i t r a r y cons t a n t ) were c o n s i d e r e d . I f n o w to is p r o m o t e d to be an a r b i t r a r y v e c t o r / u n c t i o n of s p a c e - t i m e to(x), t h e n a v e c t o r - m e s o n field t r a n s f o r m i n g i n f i n i t e s i m a l l y as

(15)

b ~-~ b + _b,~ to %to

m u s t b e i n t r o d u c e d (14) in o r d e r t h a t t h e d e r i v a t i v e (16) transform covariantly. vector interaction D~yJ == ( ? ~ - - i~ (1 + 7.~)~. b,~)V, This a p p r o a c h h a s t h e m e r i t of l e a d i n g d i r e c t l y to a

w i t h t h e c u r r e n t d e f i n e d in E q . (4), w i t h o u t t h e ~tdditional specific m i n i m a l e u r r e n t i n t e r a c t i o n . I f t h i s b field is to be i n t e r p r e t e d as a r e a l p a r t i c l e , its m a s s i v e in o r d e r t o e x p l a i n w h y b p a r t i c l e s h a v e n o t b e e n d u c t s of K - o r v:-meson d e c a y a n d in o r d e r to e x p l a i n t h e n a t u r e of tile F e r m i i n t e r a c t i o n . A t l e a s t t w o difficulties

a s s u m p t i o n of a quanta must be d e t e c t e d as p r o effectively local argue ngainst a

(13) ~V. HEISENBERG: Rev. Mod. t'hys.. 29. 269 (1957).

(1~} C. N. YAN(; and R. L. MILLS: Phys. Rev.. 96, ]91 (1954). (15) ~. A. BLUDMAN: Phys. Rev.. 100, 372 (1955).

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realistic i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the b field. In the first place, as mentioned above, such an i n t e r m e d i a r y particle would raise the ~-decay o value above 3, while presently published m e a s u r e m e n t s report a value ( ) = 0.68 I 0.02 (~). i n the second place, a n y charged spin-one particle has a singular non-renormalizable electromagnetic interaction. Incidentally, beucase of its V coupling, b-meson corrections cannot alter the basic V-A lepton interaction to effect the calculated =--~ e q - , / ~ - + tx--~,p ratio. As noted above, a b-meson cannot be directly responsible for all the mass of the ~u. meson.

5. -

Concluding

discussion.

This d e v e l o p m e n t presupposes t h a t we can tre~t the weak interactions, at least s e m i q u a n t i t a t i v e l y , without a t t e m p t i n g to deal with the strong interactions. A F e r m i current has been derived from a continuous group of transformations, which p r e s u m a b l y would be s y m m e t r y operations in the absence of strong-interaction effects. The weak intera(.tions are supposed to be the interactions of ~his F e r m i current with itself, and possibly with spin-zero mesons. This a s s u m p t i o n goes beyond earlier ones (3-~) in three respects: a) A continuous group of transformations described in Eq. (2), has been introduced here in f r a n k analogy ~Sth gauge invariance, general covariance and isotopic spin invariance, in order to give expression to the at-]east-approxi m a t e conservation of F e r m i charo'e observed in the near equality of F e r m i coupling constants. (As s t a t e d in Sect. 3 we imagine the F e r m i gauge invarianee to be blocked, at least partially, b y those same p h e n o m e n a giving rise to strong interactions and mass effects.) I n v a r i a n c e under a discrete g'roup like t h a t in Eq. (2') does not i m p l y a n y current conservation law at all. b) We incorporate the three charge operators ~+, v - , a n d ~ into our s y m m e t r y t r a n s f o r m a t i o n instead of assuming (~-~) directly the charge exchange c h a r a c t e r of the interaction. Because we allow charge-retention F e r m i interactions (through v3) in addition to the charge-exchange interactions (7) and (8) we expect weak neutrino-nucleon b u t no neutrino-electron scattering processes. c) Since we see no reason w h y the F e r m i interaction need extend to edl fermion pairs, we do not expect h y p e r o n ~ decays involving strangeness change. I f this turns out to be the ease, we m u s t assume an additional universal weak Y u k a w a process to describe m e s o n and h y p e r o n decays. The consequence of assuming F e r m i gauge invarianee are in a n y case farreaching enough to p e r m i t an e x p e r i m e n t a l decision.

(16) Radiative corrections, which effectively lower tile o value, are being investigate4 for ~-deeay through an intermediary b field, in collaboration with H. S. ~Vo_x~.

ON TIlE UNIVERSAL FERMI INTERACTION

443

APPENDIX

I n this appendix we wish to record the results of assuming a weak interaction between a meson field ? of mass M, and particular pairs of fermions

(A.1)
As suggested in the right side of Fig. 1, this interaction is assumed to involve only b a r y o n s (PA), (NA), (PZ), (NZ), (~A) belon~'ing to di]]erent charge multiplets, and only the lepton pair (v~). F r o m the rate 0.39.10 s s ~ for = d e c a y we fix

(A.~)

g2/4~ = 3.67' 10 -r' .

The other decay rates are then calculated from this one coupling constant a n d compared with experiment in Table I. The rate for K ~+ ~-~, has been given previously (tT). F o r the b a r y m l decays, no a t t e m p t has been made to calculate b r a n c h i n g raties t h a t would follow, for example, from the A I = ~ rule. This weak Y u k a w a interaction discriminates between m u o n and electron in such a w a y as to allow the decay ~, --~ ~ + , ; while preventing any appreciable 7 : - - ~ e v decay. The strong = coupling to (PN) of course still allows, in addition, ~ decay t h r o u g h the F e r m i interactions t h a t are known to involve ((PN) (,e) as well as (PN)(,~). The experimental upper limits on the ratio of decay modes of e and {z suggest, however, t h a t these F e r m i intcraction,s can be responsible for no more t h a n one t e n t h of all ~ decays. (A r e c e n t estimate (is) of : : decay t h r o u g h the channel = --~ n~-H -+ [zv shows appreciable d a m p i n g of the pion-nuc]eon coupling constant. This illustrates how this channel m a y not contribute significantly in comparison with the direct t-ukawa~ coupling assumed here. I t also shows how the amplitude for K decay t h r o u g h y ~ - ~ can be comparable with t h a t for ~ decay t h r o u g h n-~ff even t h o u g h t h e strong coupling constants are somewhat unequah) The interaction (A.1) leads to a ratio of p-wave to s-wave emission tg, : [(1 - - X-~_)/(1 - - X~)]~,

which is close to u n i t y in h y p e r o n decay. Here X _ = M/(M~ ~ M~), where 3/1 and M2 are the b a r y o n masses. I n the decay of polarized hyperons (~")

(t7) S. A. BLUD.~IAN a n d M. A. RUDER~IAN: t)hys. I~)er., 101, 910 (1956). ONEDA a n d c o l l a b o r a t o r s , in Nuclear Physics, 1, 445 (1956) a n d earlier p a p e r s , o b t a i n a diff e r e n t r a t e for K - ~ - t - v b e c a u s e , in t h e i n t e r a c t i o n (A1), t h e y o m i t t h e f a c t o r M -~ w h i c h is different for ~ a n d for K decay. (is) M. L. GOLDBERGER a n d S. B. TREI_~IAN: Phys. tTec., 110, 1178 (1958). (19) T. D. LEE a n d C. N. YANC: Pl~ys. Rec.. 108, 1645 (1957).

444

S.A.

BLIiDMAN

large positive asymmetries ~ = sin2, and longitudinal polarizatiollz Pz=-a r e t h e r e f o r e o b t a i n e d . T h e t r a n s v e r s e n u c l e o n p o l a r i z a t i o n P r = cos 2~ are, o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , in t h e p l a n e d e f i n e d b y t h e d e c a y a n d t h e h y p e r o n s p i n , a n d r e l a t i v e l y s m a l l . I n t h i s ( ' a l c n l a t i o n t h e s m a l l effects of f i n a l - s t a t e i n t e r action have been neglected. T h e e x p e r i m e n t a l e v i d e n c e i n d i c a t e s (:o) :~ > 0.77 ~ 0.16 in A d e c a y , w h i c h is ( . o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e c a l c u l a t e d v a l u e . T h e p r e l i m i n a r y d a t a p r o b a b l y i n d i c a t e s m a l l a s y m m e t r i e s in X d e c a y (z~), w h i c h w o u l d b e in d i s a g r e e m e n t w i t h t h e c a l c u l a t e d v a l u e s l i s t e d in T a b l e I. (Such a n e x p e r i m e n t a l r e s u l t w o u l d a.lso d i s a g r e e w i t h t h e A I = r u l e , w h i c h p r e d i c t s l a r g e a s y m m e t r i e s of opp o s i t e signs i n a t l e a s t t w o of t h e E - d e c a y m o d e s . ) I n a n y case t h e c h i r a l i t y non-conserving strong interactions can easily wash out the asymmetries and p o l a r i z a t i o n s c a l c u l a t e d on t h e b a s i s of t h e s i m p l e V - A i n t e r a c t i o n .

TABLE I. -- Decays i~tcolritty mesot~s. The rates are calculated from the universal weak Yukawa interaction (A1) with coupling constant (A2) derived from the = lifetime. The a s y m m e t r y ~ and transverse polarization P r of the decay baryon in hyperon decay are given in the convention of LEE and YANG (19). Calculated decay rate (s 1) Observed deca 5" rate (s -1) (22)
-i

Process

P~

K-=- u + v

55

.10 ~ (17)

48

106

A -> p + r:A - , n + r:+

/ /

0.10" 10 TM

0.234- 101 0.126.101 0.59 10 ~

0.89 (2~)

0.45

0.62- 101

0.69 t0 l 0.64 101

0.98

0.18

E- + A ~-

0.21" 101

(0.005

0.2)' 101

0.95

0.30

(20) L. STEVEZ~'SOZ~:A.P.S. Sta~tford meeting, 1957. (21) W. H. BARKAS: (UCRL) private communication. (~2) The experimental trdnsition rates into each mode are taken from the s u r v e y by M. GELL-MANz~ and A. H. ROS~Nr'ELD, Jr. : Anat. l?er. Nuclear Sei., 7, (1957). (~z) j . j . SAKU~AI: Phys. Rev.. 108, 491 (1957).

ON

THE

UNIVERSAL

FERMI

INTERACTION

445

RIASSUNTO

(*)

L a f o r m a V-A d e l l ' i n t e r a z i o n e di F e r m i non c o n s e r v a n t e la parit~ si d e r i v a da un principio d ' i n v a r i a n z a r i s p e t t o a un gruppo c o n t i n u o di t r a s f o r m a z i o n i in analogia colla d e r i v a z i o n e o r d i n a r i a d e l l ' i n v a r i a n z a di gauge della m i n i m a interazione e l e t t r o m a g n e t i c a delle particelle cariche. Questa ipotesi ~ per la f o r m a delle interazioni di F e r m i u n a restrizione pifl severa di quella i n v o c a t a da SUDARSHAN e M A R S t t A K , GELL-MANN e FEYN.~IAN, e SAKURAI e c o n d u c e ad ulteriori predizioni suscettibili di verifica sperim e n t a l e . Se queste t r a s f o r m a z i o n i fossero t r a s f o r m a z i o n i della s i m m e t r i a d e l l ' i n t e r a l a g r a n g i a n a , le c o s t a n t i di a c c o p p i a m e n t o del d e c a d i m e n t o ~ e ~ sarebbero e s a t t a m e n t e uguali. Si discutono le conseguenze d e r i v a n t i dall'estensione di q u e s t a i n v a r i a n z a di gauge secondo F e r m i a a n gruppo d i p e n d e n t e da funzioni dello spazio-tempo. Si considera ta possibilit~ che le interazioni di F e r m i che e o m p o r t i n o un c a m b i a m e n t o eli s t r a n e z z a siano proibite, e si t a b u l a n o i r i s u l t a t i d e r i v a n t i dall'ipotesi di u n a interazione universale V-A di Y u k a w a non c o n s e r v a n t e la paritY. Tale i n t e r a z i o n e di Y u k a w a , che richiede u n a n u o v a c o s t a n t e di a c c o p p i a m e n t o conduce a ragionevoli tassi di decad i m e n t o dei mesoni K e degli iperoni e p e r m e t t e il d e c a d i m e n t o dei mesoni :: in ~ - k v s e n z a apprezzabile d e c a d i m e n t o in e + v .

(*) T r a d u z i o n e a earn della Redazio~e.

29 - 11 N u o v o C i m e n t o .