WEAK HYPERON PRODUCTION IN EP SCATTERING

We study the kinematics and cross section of the scattering process ep --> e Sigma(+). The cross section is expressed in terms of complex fo rm factors characterizing the hadron vertices. We estimate the cross s ection for small momentum transfer using known experimental informatio n. To first order in the momentum transfer, we obtain a model-independ ent result for the photon-exchange part of the cross section, which is completely determined by the decay width Gamma(Sigma(+) --> p gamma). For the kinematics of the parity violation experiment at MAMI, this f irst-order result gives rise to a ratio of (d sigma/d Omega)(ep --> e Sigma+)/(d sigma/d Omega)(ep --> ep) similar or equal to 4.0 x 10(-15) . The Z(0)-exchange and interference parts give much smaller contribut ions due to the suppression of the flavor-changing weak neutral curren t in the standard model. The feasibility of the experimental measureme nt is briefly discussed.