Few-Nucleon Systems with Two-Nucleon Forces from Chiral Effective Field Theory

Abstract

Nucleon-nucleon (NN) forces from chiral perturbation theory at next-to-leading (NLO) and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) are applied to systems with two, three and four nucleons. At NNLO, we consider two versions of the chiral potential which differ in the strength of the two-pion-exchange (TPE) but describe two nucleon observables equally well. The NNLO potential leads to unphysical deeply bound states in the low partial waves and effects of the 3N forces, which appear first at this order, are expected to be large. We provide arguments for a reduction of the TPE potential and introduce the NNLO* version of the NN forces. We calculate nd scattering observables as well as various properties of 3H and 4He with the NNLO* potential and find good agreement with the data and with predictions based upon the standard high-precision potentials. We find an improved description of the 3H and 4He binding energies.