Three instances are discussed in which results produced by chiral perturbation theory can be reliably pushed to high space-like values of transferred momenta: 1. nuclear interactions, 2. nucleon sigma-term and 3. space-like structure of the pion
The low-energy S-wave component of the decay $D^+ to K^- pi^+ pi^+$ is studied by means of a chiral SU(3)XSU(3) effective theory. As far as the primary vertex is concerned, we allow for the possibility of either direct production of three pseudoscala
r mesons or a meson and a scalar resonance. Special attention is paid to final state interactions associated with elastic meson-meson scattering. The corresponding two-body amplitude is unitarized by ressumming s-channel diagrams and can be expressed in terms of the usal phase shifts $delta$. This procedure preserves the chiral properties of the amplitude at low-energies. Final state interactions also involve another phase $omega$, which describes intermediate two-meson propagation and is theoretically unambiguous. This phase is absent in the K-matrix approximation. Partial contributions to the decay amplitude involve a real term, another one with phase $delta$ and several others with phases $delta+omega$. Our main result is a simple and almost model independent chiral generalization of the usual Breit-Wigner expression, suited to be used in analyses of production data involving scalar resonances.
An effective $SU(3)times SU(3)$ chiral lagrangian, which includes scalar resonances, is used to describe the process $D^+ rar K^- p^+ p^+$ at low-energies. Our main result is a set of five $S$-wave amplitudes, suited to be used in analyses of production data.
A discussion is presented of the dynamics underlying three-body nuclear forces, with emphasis on changes which occurred over several decades.
Chiral expansions of the two-pion exchange components of both two- and three-nucleon forces are reviewed and a discussion is made of the predicted pattern of hierarchies. The strength of the scalar-isoscalar central potential is found to be too large
and to defy expectations from the symmetry. The causes of this effect can be understood by studying the nucleon scalar form factor.
Scattering and production amplitudes involving scalar resonances are known, according to Watsons theorem, to share the same phase $delta(s)$. We show that, at low energies, the production amplitude is fully determined by the combination of $delta(s)$
with another phase $omega(s)$, which describes intermediate two-meson propagation and is theoretically unambiguous. Our main result is a simple and almost model independent expression, which generalizes the usual $K$-matrix unitarization procedure and is suited to be used in analyses of production data involving scalar resonances.
