Circumstantial evidence for a soft nuclear symmetry energy at supra-saturation densities

Within an isospin- and momentum-dependent hadronic transport model it is shown that the recent FOPI data on the $pi^-/pi^+$ ratio in central heavy-ion collisions at SIS/GSI energies (Willy Reisdorf {it et al.}, NPA {bf 781}, 459 (2007)) provide circumstantial evidence suggesting a rather soft nuclear symmetry energy esym at $rhogeq 2rho_0$ compared to the Akmal-Pandharipande-Ravenhall prediction. Some astrophysical implications and the need for further experimental confirmations are discussed.