Hen Process in Effective Field Theory

Abstract

An effective field theory technique that combines the standard nuclear physics approach and chiral perturbation theory is applied to the $hen$ process, ${}^{3}{He}+n\to {}^{4}{He}+ \gamma$. For the initial and final nuclear states, high-precision wave functions are generated via the variational Monte Carlo method using the Argonne $v_{14}$ potential and Urbana VIII trinucleon interactions, while the relevant transition operators are calculated up to ${\cal O}(Q^4)$ in HB$\chi$PT. The imposition of the renormalization condition that the magnetic moments of ${}^{3}{He}$ and ${}^{3}{H}$ be reproduced allows us to carry out a parameter-free calculation of the $hen$ cross section. The result, $\sigma=(60\pm 3\pm 1) \mu b$, is in reasonable agreement with the experimental values, $(54\pm 6) \mu b$ and $(55\pm 3) \mu b$. This agreement demonstrates the validity of the calculational method previously used for estimating the reaction rate of the solar $hep$ process.