In search of a pristine signal for (scale-)chiral symmetry in nuclei

Abstract

I describe the long-standing search for a “smoking-gun” signal for the manifestation of (scale-)chiral symmetry in nuclear interactions. It is prompted by Gerry Brown’s last unpublished note, reproduced verbatim below, on the preeminent role of pions and vector ([Formula: see text]) mesons in providing a simple and elegant description of strongly correlated nuclear interactions. In this note written in tribute to Gerry Brown, I first describe a case of an unambiguous signal in axial-charge transitions in nuclei and then combine his ideas with the more recent development on the role of hidden symmetries in nuclear physics. What transpires is the surprising conclusion that the Landau–Migdal fixed point interaction [Formula: see text], the nuclear tensor forces and Brown–Rho scaling, all encoded in scale-invariant hidden local symmetry, as Gerry put, “run the show and make all forces equal.”