Parity Conservation in Strong Interactions: Introduction and the ReactionHe4(d, γ)Li6

Abstract

A discussion is made of the ways in which parity conservation in ordinary strongly interacting nuclear systems might be investigated. Three classes of experiment are proposed: in class I we look for violations of absolute selection rules based on strict parity conservation and are sensitive to ${\mathfrak{F}}^2$, the intensity of the irregular or parity-nonconserving part of the wave functions; in class II we look for longitudinal polarization of product heavy particles or circular polarization of gamma rays from initially unpolarized systems and are here sensitive directly to $\mathfrak{F}$; in class III we look for odd powers of $cos\theta$ in the angular distributions or correlations of radiations emitted from well-isolated nuclear states and are again sensitive to ${\mathfrak{F}}^2$.