The long and winding road from chiral effective Lagrangians to nuclear structure

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development of chiral effective field theories for nuclear forces, highlighting advances in multi-nucleon interactions, lattice methods for ab initio calculations, and their implications for nuclear structure and fundamental symmetries.

Contribution

It introduces new chiral force constructions up to fifth order, emphasizes the importance of three-nucleon forces, and discusses lattice formulations for nuclear structure calculations.

Findings

Three-nucleon forces are essential in few-nucleon systems.

Lattice methods enable ab initio nuclear structure calculations.

Chiral effective theories connect nuclear physics with fundamental symmetries.

Abstract

I review the chiral dynamics of nuclear physics. In the first part, I discuss the new developments in the construction of the forces between two, three and four nucleons which have been partly carried out to fifth order in the chiral expansion. It is also shown that based on these forces in conjunction with the estimation of the corresponding theoretical uncertainties, the need for three-nucleon forces in few nucleon systems can be unambiguously established. I also introduce the lattice formulation of these forces, which allow for truly ab initio calculations of nuclear structure and reactions. I present some pertinent results of the nuclear lattice approach. Finally, I discuss how few-nucleon systems and nuclei can be used to explore symmetries and physics within and beyond the Standard Model.