Modern Theory of Nuclear Forces

Effective field theory allows for a systematic and model-independent derivation of the forces between nucleons in harmony with the symmetries of Quantum Chromodynamics. We review the foundations of this approach and discuss its application for light nuclei at various resolution scales. The extension of this approach to many-body systems is briefly sketched.Comment: Commissioned article for Reviews of Modern Physics, 52 pp, 40 fig

Pionic Final State Interactions and the Hypertriton Lifetime

We analyze the contribution of pionic final state interactions (FSI) in the weak decay of the hypertriton. Focusing on the $^3$He channel, we find a contribution of the pionic FSI of the order of $18\%$. Assuming a fixed value for the branching ratio $R_3$ for the decay width into $^3$He over the decay width into $^3$He and $pd$ final states, we find values for the hypertriton lifetime that are consistent with the world average as well as recent measurements by the ALICE Collaboration.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Weak decay of halo nuclei

We investigate the weak decay of one-neutron halo nuclei into the proton-core continuum, i.e., beta-delayed proton emission from the halo nucleus using a cluster effective field theory for halo nuclei. On the one hand, we calculate the direct decay into the continuum. On the other hand, we consider the case of resonant final state interactions between the proton and the core. We present our formalism and discuss the application to the decay of $^{11}$Be in detail. Moreover, we compare to recent experimental results for the branching ratio and resonance parameters. As another example, we consider the case of $^{19}$C and predict the branching ratio for beta-delayed proton emission.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

High-precision determination of the electric and magnetic radius of the proton

Using dispersion theory with an improved description of the two-pion continuum based on the precise Roy-Steiner analysis of pion-nucleon scattering, we analyze recent data from electron-proton scattering. This allows for a high-precision determination of the electric and magnetic radius of the proton, $r_E = (0.838^{+0.005}_{-0.004}{}^{+0.004}_{-0.003})\,$fm and $r_M = (0.847\pm{0.004}\pm{0.004})\,$fm, where the first error refers to the fitting procedure using bootstrap and the data while the second one refers to the systematic uncertainty related to the underlying spectral functions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, more discussions and references added, version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Three-body resonances in pionless effective field theory

We investigate the appearance of resonances in three-body systems using pionless effective field theory at leading order. The Faddeev equation is analytically continued to the unphysical sheet adjacent to the positive real energy axis using a contour rotation. We consider both, the three-boson system and the three-neutron system. For the former, we calculate the trajectory of Borromean three-body Efimov states turning into resonances as they cross the three-body threshold. For the latter, we find no sign of three-body resonances or virtual states at leading order. This result is validated by exploring the level structure of three-body states in a finite volume approach.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, version published in Phys. Rev.

Dispersion-theoretical analysis of the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon: Past, present and future

We review the dispersion-theoretical analysis of the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon. We emphasize in particular the role of unitarity and analyticity in the construction of the isoscalar and isovector spectral functions. We present new results on the extraction of the nucleon radii, the electric and magnetic form factors and the extraction of $\omega$-meson couplings. All this is supplemented by a detailed calculation of the theoretical uncertainties, using bootstrap and Bayesian methods to pin down the statistical errors, while systematic errors are determined from variations of the spectral functions. We also discuss the physics of the time-like form factors and point out further issues to be addressed in this framework.Comment: 31 pages, 33 pages, commissioned review article for EPJ

Morphology of three-body quantum states from machine learning

The relative motion of three impenetrable particles on a ring, in our case two identical fermions and one impurity, is isomorphic to a triangular quantum billiard. Depending on the ratio κ of the impurity and fermion masses, the billiards can be integrable or non-integrable (also referred to in the main text as chaotic). To set the stage, we first investigate the energy level distributions of the billiards as a function of 1/κ ∈ [0, 1] and find no evidence of integrable cases beyond the limiting values 1/κ = 1 and 1/κ = 0. Then, we use machine learning tools to analyze properties of probability distributions of individual quantum states. We find that convolutional neural networks can correctly classify integrable and non-integrable states. The decisive features of the wave functions are the normalization and a large number of zero elements, corresponding to the existence of a nodal line. The network achieves typical accuracies of 97%, suggesting that machine learning tools can be used to analyze and classify the morphology of probability densities obtained in theory or experiment

Neutron Scattering off One-Neutron Halo Nuclei in Halo Effective Field Theory

Neutron scattering off neutron halos can provide important information about the internal structure of nuclei close to the neutron drip line. In this work, we use halo effective field theory to study the $s$-wave scattering of a neutron and the spin-parity $J^P=\frac{1}{2}^+$ one-neutron halo nuclei $^{11}\rm Be$, $^{15}\rm C$, and $^{19}\rm C$ at leading order. In the $J=1$ channel, the only inputs to the Faddeev equations are their one-neutron separation energies. In the $J=0$ channel, the neutron-neutron scattering length and the two-neutron separation energies of $\rm ^{12}Be$, $\rm ^{16}C$ and $\rm ^{20}C$ enter as well. The numerical results show that the total $s$-wave cross sections in the $J=1$ channel at threshold are of the order of a few barns. In the $J=0$ channel, these cross sections are of the order of a few barns for $n$-$^{11}\rm Be$ and $n$-$^{19}\rm C$ scattering, and about 60 $\rm mb$ for the $n$-$^{15}\rm C$ scattering. The appearance of a pole in $p\cot\delta$ close to zero in all three cases indicates the existence of a virtual Efimov state close to threshold in each of the $^{12}\rm Be$, $^{16}\rm C$, and $^{20}\rm C$ systems. Observation of this pole would confirm the presence of Efimov physics in halo nuclei. The dependence of the results on the neutron-core scattering length is also studied