Determination of the Pion-Nucleon Coupling Constant in the VPI/GW Pion-Nucleon Elastic Scattering Partial Wave and Dispersion Relation Analyis

Our extraction of the pion-nucleon coupling constant from \pi p elastic scattering data is outlined. A partial wave analysis (T_{\pi} < 2100 MeV) is performed simultaneously with a fixed-t dispersion relation analysis (T_{\pi} < 800 MeV). The \pi NN coupling constant g^2/4\pi is searched to find the best fit. The result 13.73 \pm 0.01 \pm 0.07 (first error statistical, second systematic) is found to be insensitive to database changes and Coulomb barrier corrections. This value satisfies important elements of low energy QCD like the Goldberger-Treiman discrepancy, the Dashen-Weinstein sum rule, and chiral perturbation theory predictions of threshold pion photoproduction.