A comparison of two possible nuclear effective field theory expansions around the one- and two-pion exchange potentials

TL;DR

This paper compares two nuclear effective field theory expansions, one based on one-pion exchange and the other on two-pion exchange, finding the latter shows better convergence in certain two-nucleon scattering channels.

Contribution

It introduces and evaluates an alternative EFT expansion where two-pion exchange is the leading finite-range interaction, contrasting it with the standard approach.

Findings

Better convergence in selected partial waves with the two-pion exchange expansion

Both expansions converge well overall

Specific improvement observed in the $^1S_0$ channel

Abstract

In the effective field theory formalism nuclear forces are organized as a low energy expansion. Usually the lowest order in this expansion corresponds to the non-perturbative iteration of the one-pion exchange potential and a few contact-range operators as to ensure renormalization group invariance. Here we consider an alternative expansion in which two-pion exchange becomes the lowest order finite range interaction and as such is expected to be iterated. A comparison of this new expansion with the standard one shows a better convergence pattern for a few selected partial waves ($^1S_0$, $^3P_0$ and $^3S_1$-$^3D_1$) in two-nucleon scattering, in particular for the $^1S_0$ channel (though both expansions converge well). We briefly comment on the possible theoretical grounds for the expansion around two-pion exchange from the point of view of effective field theory.