A novel probe of chiral restoration in nuclear medium

Abstract

We propose measuring the mass shift and width broadening of the $f_1(1285)$ meson together with those of the $\omega$ from a nuclear target as a means to experimentally probe the partial restoration of chiral symmetry inside the nuclear matter. The relation between the order parameter of chiral symmetry and the difference in the correlation functions of the $f_1(1285)$ current and the $\omega$ current is discussed in the limit where the disconnected diagrams are neglected. A QCD sum rule analysis of the $f_1(1285)$ meson mass leads to about 100 MeV attraction in nuclear matter, which can be probed in future experiments.