Energy dependence of nucleon-nucleon potentials in lattice QCD

TL;DR

This study tests the validity of leading-order nucleon-nucleon potentials derived from lattice QCD at low energies, finding that the approximation holds well at around 45 MeV compared to near zero energy.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the leading-order approximation of NN potentials from lattice QCD remains valid at low energies, specifically around 45 MeV, confirming the approach's reliability.

Findings

LO potentials at 45 MeV agree with those at 0 MeV within errors

The LO approximation is valid for low-energy NN interactions

Supports use of this method for low-energy nuclear physics

Abstract

Recently a new approach to calculate the nuclear potential from lattice QCD has been proposed. In the approach the nuclear potential is constructed from Bethe-Salpeter (BS) wave functons through the Schroedinger equation. The procedure leads to non-local but energy independent potential, which can be expanded in terms of local functions. In several recent applications of this method, local potentials, which correspond to the leading order (LO) terms of the expansion, are calculated from the BS wave function at E~0 MeV, where E is the center of mass energy. It is therefore important to check the validity of the LO approximation obtained at E~0. In this report, in order to check how well the LO approximation for the NN potentials works, we compare the LO potentials determined from the BS wave function at E~45 MeV with those at E~0 MeV in quenched QCD. We find that the difference of the LO potentials between two energies are not found wihin the statistical errors. This shows that the LO approximation for the potential is valid at low energies to describe the NN interactions.