Delta I=3/2 and Delta S =2 Hyperon Decays in Chiral Perturbation Theory

We study the Delta I =3/2 and Delta S =2 amplitudes for hyperon decays of the form (B to B(prime) pion) at lowest order in chiral perturbation theory. At this order, the Delta I=3/2 amplitudes depend on only one constant. We extract the value of this constant from experiment and find a reasonable description of these processes within experimental errors. The same constant determines the Delta S =2 transitions which, in the standard model, are too small to be observed. We find that new physics with parity odd Delta S=2 interactions can produce observable rates in hyperon decays while evading the bounds from K0 - K0(bar) mixing.