On relativistic approaches to the pion self-energy in nuclear matter
Abstract.We argue that, in contrast to the non-relativistic approach, a relativistic evaluation of the nucleon-hole and delta-isobar-nucleon-hole contributions to the pion self-energy incorporates the s-wave scattering, whose magnitude within the RPA is in conflict with the near-threshold behavior imposed by chiral symmetry. As a result, a relativistic approach to the pion self-energy in isospin-symmetric nuclear matter, containing only these diagrams, does not satisfy the known experimental results on the near-threshold behavior of the $\pi$-nucleon (forward) scattering amplitude.