Chiral 2π2\pi-exchange NN-potentials: Two-loop contributions

We calculate in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory the local NN-potentials generated by the two-pion exchange diagrams at two-loop order. We give explicit expressions for the mass-spectra (or imaginary parts) of the corresponding isoscalar and isovector central, spin-spin and tensor NN-amplitudes. We find from two-loop two-pion exchange a sizeable isoscalar central repulsion which amounts to $62.3$MeV at $r=1.0$fm. There is a similarly strong isovector central attraction which however originates mainly from the third order low energy constants $\bar d_j$ entering the chiral $\pi N$-scattering amplitude. We also evaluate the one-loop $2\pi$-exchange diagram with two second order chiral $\pi \pi NN$-vertices proportional to the low energy constants $c_{1,2,3,4}$ as well as the first relativistic 1/M-correction to the $2\pi$-exchange diagrams with one such vertex. The diagrammatic results presented here are relevant components of the chiral NN-potential at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Resummation of in-medium ladder diagrams: s-wave effective range and p-wave interaction

A recent work on the resummation of fermionic in-medium ladder diagrams to all orders is extended by considering the effective range correction in the s-wave interaction and a (spin-independent) p-wave contact-interaction. A two-component recursion generates the in-medium T-matrix at any order when off-shell terms spoil the factorization of multi-loop diagrams. The resummation to all orders is achieved in the form of a geometrical series for the particle-particle ladders, and through an arctangent-function for the combined particle-particle and hole-hole ladders. One finds that the effective range correction changes the results in the limit of large scattering length considerably, with the effect that the Bertsch parameter $\xi_n$ nearly doubles. Applications to the equation of state of neutron matter at low density are also discussed. For the p-wave contact-interaction the resummation to all orders is facilitated by decomposing tensorial loop-integrals with a transversal and a longitudinal projector. The enhanced attraction provided by the p-wave ladder series has its origin mainly in the coherent sum of Hartree and Fock contributions.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.

Twice-iterated boson-exchange scattering amplitudes

We calculate at two-loop order the complex-valued scattering amplitude related to the twice-iterated scalar-isovector boson-exchange between nucleons. In comparison to the once-iterated boson-exchange amplitude it shows less dependence on the scattering angle. We calculate also the iteration of the (static) irreducible one-loop potential with the one-boson exchange and find similar features. Together with the irreducible three-boson exchange potentials and the two-boson exchange potentials with vertex corrections, which are also evaluated analytically, our results comprise all nonrelativistic contributions from scalar-isovector boson-exchange at one- and two-loop order. The applied methods can be straightforwardly adopted to the pseudoscalar pion with its spin- and momentum-dependent couplings to the nucleon.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Physical Review C (2006

Parity-violating two-pion exchange nucleon-nucleon interaction

We calculate in chiral perturbation theory the parity-violating two-pion exchange nucleon-nucleon potentials at leading one-loop order. At a distance of $r= m_\pi^{-1} \simeq 1.4$fm they amount to about $\pm 16$ of the parity-violating $1\pi$-exchange potential. We evaluate also the parity-violating effects arising from $2\pi$-exchange with excitation of virtual $\Delta(1232)$-isobars. These come out to be relatively small in comparison to those from diagrams with only nucleon intermediate states. The reason for this opposite behavior to the parity-conserving case is the blocking of the dominant isoscalar central channel by CP-invariance. Furthermore, we calculate the T-matrix related to the iteration of the parity-violating $1\pi$-exchange with the parity-conserving one. The analytical results presented in this work can be easily implemented into calculations of parity-violating nuclear observables.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, published in: Phys. Rev. C76. 047001 (2007

Third-order particle-hole ring diagrams with contact-interactions and one-pion exchange

The third-order particle-hole ring diagrams are evaluated for a NN-contact interaction of the Skyrme type. The pertinent four-loop coefficients in the energy per particle $\bar E(k_f) \sim k_f^{5+2n}$ are reduced to double-integrals over cubic expressions in euclidean polarization functions. Dimensional regularization of divergent integrals is performed by subtracting power-divergences and the validity of this method is checked against the known analytical results at second-order. The complete ${\cal O}(p^2)$ NN-contact interaction is obtained by adding two tensor terms and their third-order ring contributions are also calculated in detail. The third-order ring energy arising from long-range $1\pi$-exchange is computed and it is found that direct and exchange contributions are all attractive. The very large size of the pion-ring energy, $\bar E(k_{f0})\simeq -92\,$MeV at saturation density, is however in no way representative for that of realistic chiral NN-potentials. Moreover, the third-order (particle-particle and hole-hole) ladder diagrams are evaluated with the full ${\cal O}(p^2)$ contact interaction and the simplest three-ring contributions to the isospin-asymmetry energy $A(k_f)\sim k_f^5$ are studied.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Pion-photon exchange nucleon-nucleon potentials

We calculate in chiral perturbation theory the dominant next-to-leading order correction to the $\pi\gamma$-exchange NN-potential proportional to the large isovector magnetic moment $\kappa_v = 4.7$ of the nucleon. The corresponding spin-spin and tensor potentials $\widetilde V_{S,T}(r)$ in coordinate space have a very simple analytical form. At long distances $r \simeq 2$ fm these potentials are of similar size (but opposite in sign) as the leading order $\pi\gamma$-exchange potentials. We consider also effects from virtual $\Delta$-isobar excitation as well as other isospin-breaking contributions to the $2\pi$-exchange NN-potential induced by additional one-photon exchange.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. C (2006) Brief Report

Chiral four-body interactions in nuclear matter

An exploratory study of chiral four-nucleon interactions in nuclear and neutron matter is performed. The leading-order terms arising from pion-exchange in combination with the chiral $4\pi$-vertex and the chiral NN$3\pi$-vertex are found to be very small. Their attractive contribution to the energy per particle stays below $0.6\,$MeV in magnitude for densities up to $\rho =0.4\,$fm$^{-3}$. We consider also the four-nucleon interaction induced by pion-exchange and twofold $\Delta$-isobar excitation of nucleons. For most of the closed four-loop diagrams the occurring integrals over four Fermi spheres can either be solved analytically or reduced to easily manageable one- or two-parameter integrals. After summing the individually large contributions from 3-ring, 2-ring and 1-ring diagrams of alternating signs, one obtains at nuclear matter saturation density $\rho_0=0.16\,$fm$^{-3}$ a moderate contribution of $2.35\,$MeV to the energy per particle. The curve $\bar E(\rho)$ rises rapidly with density, approximately with the third power of $\rho$. In pure neutron matter the analogous chiral four-body interactions lead, at the same density $\rho_n$, to a repulsive contribution that is about half as strong. The present calculation indicates that long-range multi-nucleon forces, in particular those provided by the strongly coupled $\pi N \Delta$-system with its small mass-gap of $293\,$MeV, can still play an appreciable role for the equation of state of nuclear and neutron matter.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.