The Lambda_Q-Lambda_Q Potential

Lattice QCD simulations of the potential between two baryons, each containing a heavy quark and two light quarks, such as the Lambda_Q-Lambda_Q potential, will provide insight into the nucleon-nucleon interaction. As one-pion exchange does not contribute to the Lambda_Q-Lambda_Q potential, the long-distance behavior is dominated by physics that contributes to the intermediate-range attraction between two nucleons. We compute the leading long-distance contributions to the Lambda_Q-Lambda_Q potential in QCD and in partially-quenched QCD in the low-energy effective field theory.Comment: 10 pages LaTeX, 3 eps figs, 3 ps fig

To bind or not to bind: The H-dibaryon in light of chiral effective field theory

We analyse the quark mass dependence of the binding energy of the H-dibaryon in the framework of chiral effective field theory. We show that the SU(3) breaking effects induced by the differences of the pertinent two-baryon thresholds (Lambda-Lambda, Xi-N, Sigma-Sigma) have a very pronounced impact that need to be incorporated properly in future lattice QCD simulations. We also point out that if the H-dibaryon is a two-baryon bound state, its dominant component is Xi-N rather than Lambda-Lambda, which is a consequence of the approximate SU(3) flavor symmetry of the two-baryon interactions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; Results updated to the new H binding energy reported by NPLQCD, conclusions remain unchanged, several references adde

Pions in the Pionless Effective Field Theory

We show that processes involving pions that remain very near their mass-shell can be reliably computed in the pionless effective field theory, with the pion integrated in as a heavy field. As an application, we compute the pion-deuteron scattering amplitude near threshold to next-to-leading order in the momentum expansion. This amplitude is formally dominated by an infrared logarithm of the form log(gamma/mpi), where gamma is the deuteron binding momentum, and mpi is the mass of the pion. The coefficient of this logarithm is determined by the S-wave pion-nucleon scattering lengths.Comment: 10 pages LaTeX, 4 eps fig

A Conjecture about Hadrons

We conjecture that in the chiral limit of QCD the spectrum of hadrons is comprised of decoupled, reducible chiral multiplets. A simple rule is developed which identifies the chiral representations filled out by the ground-state hadrons. Our arguments are based on the algebraic structure of superconvergence relations derived by Weinberg from the high-energy behavior of pion-hadron scattering amplitudes.Comment: 15 pages LaTe

Bridging over p-wave pi-production and weak processes in few-nucleon systems with chiral perturbation theory

I study an aspect of chiral perturbation theory (\chi PT) which enables one to ``bridge'' different reactions. That is, an operator fixed in one of the reactions can then be used to predict the other. For this purpose, I calculate the partial wave amplitude for the p-wave pion production (pp\to pn\pi^+) using the pion production operator from the lowest and the next nonvanishing orders. The operator includes a contact operator whose coupling has been fixed using a matrix element of a low-energy weak process (pp\to de^+\nu_e). I find that this operator does not reproduce the partial wave amplitude extracted from experimental data, showing that the bridging over the reactions with significantly different kinematics is not necessarily successful. I study the dependence of the amplitude on the various inputs such as the NN potential, the \pi N\Delta coupling, and the cutoff. I argue the importance of a higher order calculation. In order to gain an insight into a higher order calculation, I add a higher order counter term to the operator used above, and fit the couplings to both the low-energy weak process and the pion production. The energy dependence of the partial wave amplitude for the pion production is described by the operator consistently with the data. However, I find a result which tells us to be careful about the convergence of the chiral expansion for the pp\to pn\pi^+ reaction.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figures, figures changed, compacted tex

Electroweak Matrix Elements in the Two-Nucleon Sector from Lattice QCD

We demonstrate how to make rigorous predictions for electroweak matrix elements in nuclear systems directly from QCD. More precisely, we show how to determine the short-distance contributions to low-momentum transfer electroweak matrix elements in the two-nucleon sector from lattice QCD. In potential model descriptions of multi-nucleon systems, this is equivalent to uniquely determining the meson-exchange currents, while in the context of nuclear effective field theory, this translates into determining the coefficients of local, gauge-invariant, multi-nucleon-electroweak current operators. The energies of the lowest-lying states of two nucleons on a finite volume lattice with periodic boundary conditions in the presence of a background magnetic field are sufficient to determine the local four-nucleon operators that contribute to the deuteron magnetic moment and to the threshold cross-section of n + p -> d + gamma. Similarly, the energy-levels of two nucleons immersed in a background isovector axial weak field can be used to determine the coefficient of the leading local four-nucleon operator contributing to the neutral- and charged-current break-up of the deuteron. This is required for the extraction of solar neutrino fluxes at SNO and future neutrino experiments.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure