Archive of historical materials
Letter from the Editor of Physical Review
OU1937-C2 (1 page) Date: December 2, 1937
Yukawa, Shoichi Sakata and Mitsuo Taketani sent their co-authored paper, “On the Theory of the New Particle in Cosmic Ray” (OU1937-C3) to Physical Review. The paper was received by the Editor of Physical Review on October 22, 1937 and circulated to a peer-review referee. Based on the result of the assessment by the referee, the Editor of Physical Review returned the manuscript to the authors, informing that the paper could not be posted in the journal.
The assessment result of the referee cited by the Editor of Physical Review was somewhat biased. The referee pointed out the following three reasons for not being able to post the paper in the journal: 1) The interaction between identical particles is too small, 2) The dependence on the spin is not correct and 3) The anomalous magnetic moment of protons and neutrons are not explained logically. About three years before that, Yukawa et. al. developed a theory to explain various phenomena caused by the new particle (known today as charged pi-meson) introduced by Yukawa. As for reason 1), Yukawa et. al. pointed out that introduction of neutral particles (neutral pi-mesons) might be necessary because charged pi-mesons alone would result in a small interaction between identical particles. With regards to reason 3), Yukawa et. al. used the contributing effect of the mesons in the explanation of the anomalous magnetic moment of protons and neutrons. The answer to the problem mentioned in reason 3) had to wait until the quark model was proposed 30 years later.
Yukawa’s theory of mesons was not readily accepted by other physicists even in 1937. It seems that the referee had a rejection reaction to Yukawa’s theory. After all, this paper was not published. (Written by Yutaka Hosotani)
