Exact calculation of three-body contact interaction to second order

For a system of fermions with a three-body contact interaction the second-order contributions to the energy per particle $\bar E(k_f)$ are calculated exactly. The three-particle scattering amplitude in the medium is derived in closed analytical form from the corresponding two-loop rescattering diagram. We compare the (genuine) second-order three-body contribution to $\bar E(k_f)\sim k_f^{10}$ with the second-order term due to the density-dependent effective two-body interaction, and find that the latter term dominates. The results of the present study are of interest for nuclear many-body calculations where chiral three-nucleon forces are treated beyond leading order via a density-dependent effective two-body interaction.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to be published in European Journal

Lattice calculations for A=3,4,6,12 nuclei using chiral effective field theory

We present lattice calculations for the ground state energies of tritium, helium-3, helium-4, lithium-6, and carbon-12 nuclei. Our results were previously summarized in a letter publication. This paper provides full details of the calculations. We include isospin-breaking, Coulomb effects, and interactions up to next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures, final publication versio

Lattice worldline representation of correlators in a background field

We use a discrete worldline representation in order to study the continuum limit of the one-loop expectation value of dimension two and four local operators in a background field. We illustrate this technique in the case of a scalar field coupled to a non-Abelian background gauge field. The first two coefficients of the expansion in powers of the lattice spacing can be expressed as sums over random walks on a d-dimensional cubic lattice. Using combinatorial identities for the distribution of the areas of closed random walks on a lattice, these coefficients can be turned into simple integrals. Our results are valid for an anisotropic lattice, with arbitrary lattice spacings in each direction.Comment: 54 pages, 14 figure

Effective Field Theory and the Nuclear Many Body Problem

We review many body calculations of the equation of state of dilute neutron matter in the context of effective field theories of the nucleon-nucleon interaction.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 4th International Conference On Quarks And Nuclear Physics (QNP06), 5-10 June 2006, Madrid, Spain. European Physical Journal A, in pres

More on the infrared renormalization group limit cycle in QCD

We present a detailed study of the recently conjectured infrared renormalization group limit cycle in QCD using chiral effective field theory. It was conjectured that small increases in the up and down quark masses can move QCD to the critical trajectory for an infrared limit cycle in the three-nucleon system. At the critical quark masses, the binding energies of the deuteron and its spin-singlet partner are tuned to zero and the triton has infinitely many excited states with an accumulation point at the three-nucleon threshold. We exemplify three parameter sets where this effect occurs at next-to-leading order in the chiral counting. For one of them, we study the structure of the three-nucleon system in detail using both chiral and contact effective field theories. Furthermore, we investigate the matching of the chiral and contact theories in the critical region and calculate the influence of the limit cycle on three-nucleon scattering observables.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, discussion improved, results unchanged, version to appear in EPJ

Power counting and renormalization group invariance in the subtracted kernel method for the two-nucleon system

We apply the subtracted kernel method (SKM), a renormalization approach based on recursive multiple subtractions performed in the kernel of the scattering equation, to the chiral nucleon-nucleon (NN) interactions up to next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO). We evaluate the phase-shifts in the 1S0 channel at each order in Weinberg's power counting scheme and in a modified power counting scheme which yields a systematic power-law improvement. We also explicitly demonstrate that the SKM procedure is renormalization group invariant under the change of the subtraction scale through a non-relativistic Callan-Symanzik flow equation for the evolution of the renormalized NN interactions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Consistency between renormalization group running of chiral operator and counting rule -- Case of chiral pion production operator --

In nuclear chiral perturbation theory (ChPT), an operator is defined in a space with a cutoff which may be varied within a certain range. The operator runs as a result of the variation of the cutoff [renormalization group (RG) running]. In order for ChPT to be useful, the operator should run in a way consistent with the counting rule; that is, the running of chiral counter terms have to be of natural size. We vary the cutoff using the Wilsonian renormalization group (WRG) equation, and examine this consistency. As an example, we study the s-wave pion production operator for NN\to d pi, derived in ChPT. We demonstrate that the WRG running does not generate any chiral-symmetry-violating (CSV) interaction, provided that we start with an operator which does not contain a CSV term. We analytically show how the counter terms are generated in the WRG running in case of the infinitesimal cutoff reduction. Based on the analytic result, we argue a range of the cutoff variation for which the running of the counter terms is of natural size. Then, we numerically confirm this.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, significantly changed, published versio

Ab initio alpha-alpha scattering

Processes involving alpha particles and alpha-like nuclei comprise a major part of stellar nucleosynthesis and hypothesized mechanisms for thermonuclear supernovae. In an effort towards understanding alpha processes from first principles, we describe in this letter the first ab initio calculation of alpha-alpha scattering. We use lattice effective field theory to describe the low-energy interactions of nucleons and apply a technique called the adiabatic projection method to reduce the eight-body system to an effective two-cluster system. We find good agreement between lattice results and experimental phase shifts for S-wave and D-wave scattering. The computational scaling with particle number suggests that alpha processes involving heavier nuclei are also within reach in the near future.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Resonance saturation for four-nucleon operators

In the modern description of nuclear forces based on chiral effective field theory, four-nucleon operators with unknown coupling constants appear. These couplings can be fixed by a fit to the low partial waves of neutron-proton scattering. We show that the so determined numerical values can be understood on the basis of phenomenological one-boson-exchange models. We also extract these values from various modern high accuracy nucleon-nucleon potentials and demonstrate their consistency and remarkable agreement with the values in the chiral effective field theory approach. This paves the way for estimating the low-energy constants of operators with more nucleon fields and/or external probes.Comment: 16 pp, REVTeX, 3 figure