A phenomenological analysis of meson production in nucleon-nucleon collisions is proposed. On the basis of an hypothesis that the production takes place for collisions whose impact parameters tend to be less than the range of nuclear forces, a partial wave analysis of the scattering matrix is given. The theory seems capable of describing the experimental results in a simple manner. It is shown, on the assumption that the π-meson is pseudoscalar, that angular momentum and parity considerations play an important role in interpreting the experimental results. If processes involving mesons are related to nuclear forces, then the hypothesis of charge symmetry in nuclear phenomena should receive a crucial test in experiments concerning meson production.

• Received 27 February 1951

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.83.1