# Local chiral EFT potentials in nuclei and neutron matter: results and issues

## TL;DR

This paper reviews local chiral EFT potentials used in quantum Monte Carlo calculations for nuclei and neutron matter, discussing their successes, limitations, and issues related to regulator dependence, and proposing future directions.

## Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of local chiral EFT potentials, their application in QMC methods, and discusses regulator issues and potential solutions.

## Key findings

- Accurately reproduces ground-state properties of nuclei up to A=16.
- Provides a reasonable description of neutron matter properties.
- Identifies regulator dependence as a key source of theoretical uncertainty.

## Abstract

In recent years, the combination of advanced quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods and local interactions derived from chiral effective field theory (EFT) has been shown to provide a versatile and systematic approach to nuclear systems. Calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral EFT have lead to fascinating results for nuclei and nucleonic matter. On the one hand, ground-state properties of nuclei are well reproduced up to $A\leq16$, even though these potentials have been fit to nucleon-nucleon scattering and few-body observables only. On the other hand, a reasonable description of neutron-matter properties emerges. While regulator functions applied to two- and three-nucleon forces are a necessary ingredient in these many-body calculations, the use of local regulators leads to a substantial residual regulator and cutoff dependence that increases current theoretical uncertainties. In this contribution, we review local chiral interactions, their applications, and QMC results for nuclei and neutron matter. In addition, we address regulator issues for such potentials and present a possible path forward.