arXiv · 2109.13303
The importance of few-nucleon forces in chiral effective field theory
Abstract
We study the importance of few-nucleon forces in chiral effective field theory for describing many-nucleon systems. A combinatorial argument suggests that three-nucleon forces -- which are conventionally regarded as next-to-next-to-leading order -- should accompany the two-nucleon force already at leading order (LO) starting with mass number $A\approx 10-20$. We find that this promotion enables the first realistic description of the $^{16}$O ground state based on a renormalization-group-invariant LO interaction. We also performed coupled-cluster calculations of the equation of state for symmetric nuclear matter and our results indicate that LO four-nucleon forces could play a crucial role for describing heavy-mass nuclei. The enhancement mechanism we found is very general and could be important also in other many-body problems.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
C. -J. Yang, A. Ekström, C. Forssén, G. Hagen, G. Rupak, U. van Kolck. 2021-09-27. The importance of few-nucleon forces in chiral effective field theory. https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.13303
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.