Universality in the triton charge form factor

Abstract

We consider the three-nucleon system within an effective theory with contact interactions at leading order in the large scattering length. We calculate the charge form factor of the triton at low momentum transfer and extract the triton charge radius. At this order, no two-body currents contribute and the calculation can be performed in the impulse approximation. We also comment on the power counting for higher orders. The requirement of a three-body force for renormalization of the three-nucleon system explains the previously observed correlation between the triton binding energy and charge radius for different model potentials.