Polarization relations in charge and hypercharge exchange reactions

Relations between polarizations in charge and hypercharge exchange reactions are derived. The idea is that K*(890) and K**(1400) exchange, including unspecified absorptive corrections, are related to rho and A/sub 2/ exchanges by SU(3) octet symmetry, with a scale factor to represent symmetry breaking between the rho -A/sub 2/ and the K*-K** trajectories. This hypothesis is consistent with the present data on KN to pi Sigma ( pi Lambda ) and pi N to K Sigma (K Lambda ). It leads to simple relations between the polarized cross sections P d sigma /dt, relating the above reactions to K/sup -/p to K /sup 0/n, K/sup +/n to K/sup 0/p, pi /sup -/p to pi /sup 0/n, pi /sup -/p to eta /sup 0/n. Predictions are made, on this basis, for polarization in K/sup -/p to K/sup 0/n, K/sup +/n to K/sup 0/p and pi /sup -/p to eta /sup 0/n at 4 GeV/c and for K/sup -/p to K/sup 0/n at 7 GeV/c. Finally, some supplementary conjectures lead to predictions about polarization in baryon-baryon and baryon-anti- baryon reactions, np to pn, pp to nn, pp to Lambda Lambda , etc., and also in K/sup 0 //sub L/p to K/sup 0//sub S/p regeneration. (20 refs).