Pions and Nuclei

The pion has emerges as the main feature of nuclear structure beyond the traditional description in terms of neutrons and protons. It manifests itself in a number of areas which are normally only loosely interlinked, but intimately related to the pion-nucleon and pion-nuclear interactions: the nucleon-nucleon force; the nuclear many-body problem; nuclear electromagnetic and weak interactions; nuclear spinisospin interactions; pion-nucleus scattering and reactions; etc. This book is a systematic introduction to and survey of nuclear pion physics, a major sub-field of nuclear pion physics. The theoretical foundations are padagogically developed and the physical picture is illustrated with supporting experimental examples.