Single- and double-charge exchange at low pion energies

A review is given of pion single- and double-charge exchange reactions at incident energies of 25 to 65 MeV leading to isobaric analog states, and in the case of double-charge exchange leading to the ground state of the residual nucleus. The crucial role of the higher nuclear transparency at low pion energies for the analysis of the data in terms of single and double scattering is demonstrated. The large effects on double-charge exchange produced by the spatial correlations in nuclear wave functions are evident. The data on 1f{sub 7/2} nuclei at 35 MeV are used to establish the general validity of a shell-model-based two-amplitude model for these transitions. Recent measurements of the energy dependence between 25 and 65 MeV of double-charge exchange cross sections at forward angles are presented and discussed. 33 refs., 19 figs