A NEW EXPERIMENTAL SEARCH FOR CP VIOLATION IN HYPERON DECAYS

The theoretical and experimental status of CP violation in hyperon dec ays is reviewed. The current experimental limit on the asymmetry of th e decay parameter alpha between Lambda degrees and <(Lambda)over bar>d egrees is at least two orders of magnitude above theoretical predictio ns of 10(-5) to 10(-4), A new dedicated effort, the HyperCP experiment (E871) at Fermilab, intends to measure this asymmetry in both Lambda and Xi decays to better than the 10(-4) level.