The Hypothesis of Charge Independence for Nuclear Phenomena

The hypothesis of charge independence for nuclear phenomena is a symmetry condition which leads to nontrivial relationships to be satisfied by an extensive class of meson-nucleon interactions. Application of the principle to meson production by nucleon collisions and by photons and to meson scattering leads to a number of sensitive tests of the hypothesis. No contradictions are found from the present rather limited experimental data. Extension of the principle to heavy unstable particles (such as $V$-particles) is discussed.