Induced pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon at two-loop order in chiral perturbation theory

We calculate the imaginary part of the induced pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon $G_P(t)$ in the framework of two-loop heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory. The effect of the calculated three-pion continuum on the pseudoscalar constant $g_P = (m_\mu/2M) G_P(t=-0.877m_\mu^2)$ measurable in ordinary muon capture $\mu^-p\to \nu_\mu n$ turns out to be negligibly small. Possible contributions from counterterms at two-loop order are numerically smaller than the uncertainty of the dominant pion-pole term proportional to the pion-nucleon coupling constant $g_{\pi N}= 13.2\pm 0.2$. We conclude that a sufficiently accurate representation of the induced pseudoscalar form factor of the nucleon at low momentum transfers $t$ is given by the sum of the pion-pole term and the Adler-Dothan-Wolfenstein term: $G_P(t) = 4g_{\pi N} M f_\pi/ (m_\pi^2 -t)- 2g_A M^2 /3$, with $= (0.44 \pm 0.02)$ fm$^2$ the axial mean square radius of the nucleon.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Three-body spin-orbit forces from chiral two-pion exchange

Using chiral perturbation theory, we calculate the density-dependent spin-orbit coupling generated by the two-pion exchange three-nucleon interaction involving virtual $\Delta$-isobar excitation. From the corresponding three-loop Hartree and Fock diagrams we obtain an isoscalar spin-orbit strength $F_{\rm so}(k_f)$ which amounts at nuclear matter saturation density to about half of the empirical value of $90$MeVfm$^5$. The associated isovector spin-orbit strength $G_{\rm so}(k_f)$ comes out about a factor of 20 smaller. Interestingly, this three-body spin-orbit coupling is not a relativistic effect but independent of the nucleon mass $M$. Furthermore, we calculate the three-body spin-orbit coupling generated by two-pion exchange on the basis of the most general chiral $\pi\pi NN$-contact interaction. We find similar (numerical) results for the isoscalar and isovector spin-orbit strengths $F_{\rm so}(k_f)$ and $G_{\rm so}(k_f)$ with a strong dominance of the p-wave part of the $\pi\pi NN$-contact interaction and the Hartree contribution.Comment: 8 pages, 4figure, published in : Physical Review C68, 054001 (2003

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

Novel approach to pion and eta production in proton-proton collisions near threshold

We evaluate the threshold matrix-element for the reaction $pp \to pp\pi^0$ in a fully relativistic Feynman diagrammatic approach. We employ a simple effective range approximation to take care of the S-wave $pp$ final-state interaction. The experimental value for the threshold amplitude ${\cal A} = (2.7 - i 0.3)$ fm$^4$ can be reproduced by contributions from tree level chiral (long-range) pion exchange and short-range effects related to vector meson exchanges, with $\omega$ exchange giving the largest individual contribution. Pion loop effects appear to be small. We stress that the commonly used heavy baryon formalism is not applicable in the NN-system above the pion production threshold due to the large external momentum, $|\vec p | \simeq \sqrt {Mm_\pi}$, with $M$ and $m_\pi$ the nucleon and the pion mass, respectively. We furthermore investigate the reaction $pp\to p n \pi^+$ near threshold within the same approach. We extract from the data the triplet threshold amplitude as ${\cal B}= (2.8 -i 1.5)$ fm$^4$. Its real part can be well understood from (relativistic) tree level meson-exchange diagrams. In addition, we investigate the process $pp \to pp \eta$ near threshold. We use a simple factorization ansatz for the $pp\eta$ final-state interaction and extract from the data the modulus of the threshold amplitude, $|{\cal C}| = 1.32$fm$^4$. With $g_{\eta N}=5.3$, this value can be reproduced by (relativistic) tree level meson-exchange diagrams and $\eta$-rescattering, whose strength is fixed by the $\eta N$ scattering length. We also comment on the recent near threshold data for $\eta'$-production.Comment: 28 pp, LaTeX, 9 figs, uses epsf, updated version. To be published in Eur. Phys. J. A (1999). **Title changed again*

Chiral 3π\pi-exchange NN-potentials: Results for dominant next-to-leading order contributions

We calculate in (two-loop) chiral perturbation theory the local NN-potentials generated by the three-pion exchange diagrams with one insertion from the second order chiral effective pion-nucleon Lagrangian proportional to the low-energy constants $c_{1,2,3,4}$. The resulting isoscalar central potential vanishes identically. In most cases these $3\pi$-exchange potentials are larger than the ones generated by the diagrams involving only leading order vertices due to the large values of $c_{3,4}$ (which mainly represent virtual $\Delta$-excitation). A similar feature has been observed for the chiral $2\pi$-exchange. We also give suitable (double-integral) representations for the spin-spin and tensor potentials generated by the leading-order diagrams proportional to $g_A^6$ involving four nucleon propagators. In these cases the Cutkosky rule cannot be used to calculate the spectral-functions in the infinite nucleon mass limit since the corresponding mass-spectra start with a non-vanishing value at the $3\pi$-threshold. Altogether, one finds that chiral $3\pi$-exchange leads to small corrections in the region $r\geq 1.4$ fm where $1\pi$- and chiral $2\pi$-exchange alone provide a very good strong NN-force as shown in a recent analysis of the low-energy pp-scattering data-base.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in The Physical Review

Chiral π\pi-exchange NN-potentials: Results for diagrams proportional to g_A^4 and g_A^6

We calculate in (two-loop) chiral perturbation theory the local NN-potentials generated by the three-pion exchange diagrams proportional to g_A^4 and g_A^6. Surprisingly, we find that the total isoscalar central $3\pi$-exchange potential vanishes identically. The individually largest $3\pi$-exchange potentials are of isoscalar spin-spin, isovector central and isoscalar tensor type. For these potentials simple analytical expressions can be given. The strength of these dominant $3\pi$-exchange potentials at r=1.0 fm is 4.6 MeV, 2.9 MeV and 1.4 MeV, respectively. Furthermore, we observe that the spin-spin and tensor potentials due to the diagrams proportional to g_A^6 do not exist in the infinite nucleon mass limit.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Comment about constraints on nanometer-range modifications to gravity from low-energy neutron experiments

A topic of present interest is the application of experimentally observed quantum mechanical levels of ultra-cold neutrons in the earth's gravitational field for searching short-range modifications to gravity. A constraint on new forces in the nanometer-range published by Nesvizhevsky and Protasov follows from inadequate modelling of the interaction potential of a neutron with a mirror wall. Limits by many orders of magnitude better were already derived long ago from the consistency of experiments on the neutron-electron interaction.Comment: three page