Exploratory investigation of nucleon-nucleon interactions using Euclidean Monte Carlo simulations

TL;DR

This paper explores nucleon-nucleon interactions using Euclidean Monte Carlo simulations within chiral effective theories, demonstrating feasibility and potential for future phase shift calculations.

Contribution

It introduces a lattice simulation approach for nucleon interactions based on methods from lattice QCD, enabling energy determination and artifact control.

Findings

Feasibility of Euclidean path integral simulations for nucleon states

Ability to determine two-nucleon energies

Potential to compute nucleon phase shifts in future work

Abstract

We present an exploratory study of chiral effective theories of nuclei with methods adopted from lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD). We show that the simulations in the Euclidean path integral approach are feasible and that we can determine the energy of the two nucleon state. This opens up the possibility to determine in future simulations nucleon phase shifts by varying the parameters and the simulated volumes. The physical cut-off of the theory is realised by blocking of the lattice fields. By keeping the block size fixed in physical units the lattice cut-off (i.e. the lattice spacing) can be freely changed. This offers an effective way for controlling lattice artefacts.