Momentum distributions and short-range correlations in the deuteron and $^3$He with modern chiral potentials

TL;DR

This paper investigates momentum distributions and short-range correlations in deuteron and helium-3 nuclei using modern chiral potentials, comparing results with phenomenological models and experimental data.

Contribution

It applies high-quality chiral nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces up to fifth order to study short-range correlations, bridging theoretical predictions with experimental analyses.

Findings

Chiral potentials produce consistent momentum distributions with phenomenological models.

Predictions align with experimental short-range correlation probabilities.

Modern interactions can be reconciled with electron scattering data.

Abstract

We study momentum distributions and short-range correlation probabilities in $A$=2 and $A$=3 systems. First, we show results with phenomenological and meson-theoretic two- and three-nucleon forces to verify consistency with previous similar studies. We then apply most recent high-quality chiral nucleon-nucleon potentials up to fifth order in the chiral expansion together with the leading chiral three-nucleon force. Predictions are examined in the context of a broader discussion of short-range correlation probabilities extracted from analyses of inclusive electron scattering data, addressing the question of whether modern interactions can be reconciled with the latter.