Comparison of Regularization Methods for Nucleon-Nucleon Effective Field Theory

Abstract

The characteristics of a meaningful effective field theory (EFT) analysis are discussed and compared with traditional approaches to NN scattering. A key feature of an EFT treatment is a systematic expansion in powers of momentum, which is demonstrated using an error analysis introduced by Lepage. A clear graphical determination of the radius of convergence for the momentum expansion is also obtained. I use these techniques to compare cutoff regularization, two forms of dimensional regularization, and the dibaryon approach, using a simple model for illustration. The naturalness of the parameters and predictions for other observables are also shown.