Precision spectroscopy of pionic 1s states of Sn nuclei and evidence for partial restoration of chiral symmetry in the nuclear medium

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Feb 20;92(7):072302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.072302. Epub 2004 Feb 19.

Abstract

Deeply bound 1s states of pi(-) in (115,119,123)Sn were preferentially observed using the Sn(d,3He) pion-transfer reaction under the recoil-free condition. The 1s binding energies and widths were precisely determined and were used to deduce the isovector parameter of the s-wave pion-nucleus potential to be b1=-(0.115+/-0.007)m(-1)(pi). The observed enhancement of |b(1)| over the free piN value (b(free)1/b1=0.78+/-0.05) indicates a reduction of the chiral order parameter, f*pi(rho)2/f2pi approximately 0.64, at the normal nuclear density, rho=rho(0).