Multiple pion production through isomeric states of the nucleon. Theorems following from charge independence

Abstract

Some interpretations of the scattering and of the multiple production of pions based on the hypothesis of the intervention of isomeric states of the nucleons have recently been proposed. There are indications that this situation occurs, at least approximately, in certain energy ranges. Such a simplified interpretation of the complex phenomenon of multiple production may be insufficient, but on account of the importance of the problem it may nevertheless be useful to examine the main consequences. In this paper we consider multiple production in meson-nucleon, gamma-nucleon and nucleon-nucleon collisions. If the hypothesis is made that each time only the matrix elements corresponding to a given value of the total isotopic spin predominate, general relations can be obtained for the average numbers of pions of each sign produced which are independent of the multiplicity.