In
particle physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...
, the pion decay constant is the
square root
In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that ; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or ⋅ ) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16, because .
E ...
of the coefficient in front of the
kinetic term
In physics, a kinetic term is the part of the Lagrangian that is bilinear in the fields (and for nonlinear sigma models, they are not even bilinear), and usually contains two derivatives with respect to time (or space); in the case of fermions, ...
for the
pion
In particle physics, a pion (or a pi meson, denoted with the Greek letter pi: ) is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the lightest mesons and, more gene ...
in the
low-energy effective action. It is dimensionally an
energy scale
In physics, length scale is a particular length or distance determined with the precision of at most a few orders of magnitude. The concept of length scale is particularly important because physical phenomena of different length scales cannot aff ...
and it determines the strength of the
chiral symmetry breaking
In particle physics, chiral symmetry breaking is the spontaneous symmetry breaking of a chiral symmetry – usually by a gauge theory such as quantum chromodynamics, the quantum field theory of the strong interaction. Yoichiro Nambu was award ...
. The values are:
:
:
Beware: There are several conventions which differ by factors of
. The textbook by Weinberg uses the value 184 MeV. The textbook by Peskin and Schroeder uses the value 93 MeV.
According to
Brown–Rho scaling
In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), Brown–Rho (BR) scaling is an approximate scaling law for hadrons in an ultra-hot, ultra-dense medium, such as hadrons in the quark epoch during the first microsecond of the Big Bang or within neutron stars.
Acc ...
, the masses of
nucleon
In physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus defines the atom's mass number (nucleon number).
Until the 1960s, nucleons were ...
s and most light
meson
In particle physics, a meson ( or ) is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles ...
s decrease at finite density as the ratio of the in-medium pion decay rate to the free-space pion decay constant. The pion mass is an exception to Brown-Rho scaling because the pion's mass is protected by its
Goldstone boson
In particle and condensed matter physics, Goldstone bosons or Nambu–Goldstone bosons (NGBs) are bosons that appear necessarily in models exhibiting spontaneous breakdown of continuous symmetries. They were discovered by Yoichiro Nambu in parti ...
nature.
References
#
#
Particle Data Group: Decay constants of charged pseudoscalar mesons
External links
Particle Data Group & WWW edition of ''Review of Particle Physics''
Quantum chromodynamics
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