BEHAVIOR OF CURRENT DIVERGENCES UNDER SU3XSU3

We investigate the behavior under SU3×SU3 of the hadron energy density and the closely related question of how the divergences of the axial-vector currents and the strangeness-changing vector currents transform under SU3×SU3. We assume that two terms in the energy density break SU3×SU3 symmetry; under SU3 one transforms as a singlet, the other as the member of an octet. The simplest possible behavior of these terms under chiral transformations is proposed: They are assigned to a single (3,3*) +(3*,3) representation of SU3×SU3 and parity together with the current divergences. The commutators of charges and current divergences are derived in terms of a single constant c that describes the strength of the SU3-breaking term relative to the chiral symmetry-breaking term. The constant c is found not to be small, as suggested earlier, but instead close to the value (-2) corresponding to an SU2×SU2 symmetry, realized mainly by massless pions rather than parity doubling. Some applications of the proposed commutation relations are given, mainly to the pseudoscalar mesons, and other applications are indicated. © 1968 The American Physical Society.