The Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction in a Chiral Effective Field Theory

Chapter 6
Summary and outlook
In this thesis we have considered some applications of the effective (field) theory techniques to the
problem of nucleon-nucleon scattering and bound states. Now we would like to summarize the
pertinent results of our investigation:
1. After an introduction, which describes the current status of research and formulates the
problems, we started in chapter 2 to consider the quantum mechanical two-nucleon problem
and have shown how to construct an effective low energy theory based on the method of
unitary transformations based on an arbitrary realistic two-nucleon potential (in moment um
space). This is achieved by a decoupling of the low and high moment um subspaces of the
whole moment um space. The unitary transformation can be parametrized by an operator A,
see eq. (2.65), which obeys a nonlinear integral equation (2.69). This equation can be solved
numerically and any observable can then be calculated in the space of small momenta only.
While the method is interesting per se, we have also made contact to chiral perturbation
theory (CHPT) approaches to the two-nucleon system by studying a series of questions,
which can be addressed unambiguously within the framework of our exact low moment um
theory. Clearly, this should not be considered a substitute for a realistic CHPT calculation,
which we have also performed in this work, but might be used as a guide. The salient results
of this investigation can be summarized as follows:
• We have demonstrated analytically that the theory projected onto the subspace of
momenta below a given moment um space cut-off A leads to exactly the same S-matrix
as the original theory in the full (unrestricted) moment um space provided appropriate
boundary conditions for the scattering states are chosen. In particular, the components
of the transformed scattering states with initial momenta below the cut-off A are strictly
zero in the subspace of momenta above the cut-off A .
• Starting from a S-wave N N potential with an attractive light (/LL � 300 MeV) and repulsive
heavy meson exchange (/LH � 600 MeV) given in eq. (2.113), we have rigorously
solved in numerical sense the nonlinear equation for the operator A and demonstrated
that the observables related to the bound and scattering state spectra agree precisely
for the effective and the full theory up to the cut-off A. In particular, we have just one
bound state with a binding energy of 2.23 MeV. These results are independent of the
value of the cut-off, which was varied from 200 MeV to 5.5 GeV. We have argued that
the most natural choice is A about 300 MeV. The effective potential can differ substantially
from the original one (for values of A on the low side of the range mentioned
before).
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