Chiral symmetry in nuclei: partial restoration and its consequences

Abstract

Partial restoration in nuclear matter of the chiral symmetry of QCD is discussed together with some of its possible signals. Estimates of corrections to the leading, linear dependence of the quark condensate are found to be small, implying a significant reduction of that condensate in matter. The importance of the pion cloud for the scalar quark density of a single nucleon indicates a close connection between chiral symmetry restoration and the attractive two-pion exchange interaction between nucleons. This force is sufficiently long-ranged that nucleons in nuclear matter will feel a significant degree of symmetry restoration despite the strong correlations between them. Expected consequences of this include reductions in hadron masses and decay constants. Various signals of these effects are discussed, in particular the enhancement of the axial charge of a nucleon in matter.