MESONIC WIDTH EFFECTS ON THE MOMENTUM DEPENDENCE OF THE RHO-OMEGA MIXING MATRIX ELEMENT

It is shown, in a model independent way, that the large difference in rho and omega widths gives rise to a new source of momentum dependence for the rho-omega mixing matrix element. The q(2) dependence arising due to the meson widths leads to a significant alteration of the resul t obtained in the zero-width approximation usually discussed in the li terature. The origin of this strong momentum dependence lies in the di fference between the rho and omega meson widths.