Relativistic chiral models with a light scalar meson appear to provide an economical marriage of successful relativistic mean-field theories and chiral symmetry. The scalar meson serves as both the chiral partner of the pion and the mediator of the intermediate-range nucleon-nucleon (NN) attraction. However, while some of these models can reproduce the empirical nuclear matter saturation point, they fail to reproduce observed properties of finite nuclei, such as spin-orbit splittings, shell structure, charge densities, and surface energetics. These deficiencies imply that this realization of chiral symmetry is incorrect. An alternative scenario, which features a heavy chiral scalar and dynamical generation of the NN attraction, is discussed.

• Received 2 December 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.47.2338