Mesons — UPSC Physics Optional CSE 2025 Paper II

\rho^0 and \text{K}^0 mesons both decay mostly to \pi^+ and \pi^-. Why the mean lifetime of \rho^0 is 10^{-23} \text{ s}, whereas that of \text{K}^0 is 0\cdot 89 \times 10^{-10} \text{ s}?