One of the mysteries of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule is that it is characterized by a scale ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_{\mathrm{OZI}}$ that is small compared to a typical hadronic width Γ, whereas unitarity would lead one to expect ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_{\mathrm{OZI}}$∼Γ. We show that while individual virtual decay channels contribute to OZI violation with this expected strength, the coherence between all such channels can conspire to make ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_{\mathrm{OZI}}$≪Γ, as observed.

• Received 26 December 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.44.799