Experimental tests of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule in hadron interactions

Abstract

The OZI rule have been tested in a number of experiments in a wide interval of energies. It was found that the rule is fulfilled well, within few percent of accuracy. The results of experiments with stopped antiprotons at LEAR (CERN), where unexpected large violation (by a factor 3-70) of the OZI rule was found, were quite surprising. Later experiments found strong violation of the OZI rule not only in antiproton annihilation but also in reactions with protons and pions. In the review we consider the phenomenology of the OZI rule, to what extent it is valid in the hadron interactions. The experimental evidences of the large OZI violation are discussed. The polarized strangeness model and its explanation of the large OZI violation is discussed, the review of other theoretical models is given.