118920020
The Three-Boson System at Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order
Abstract.We discuss effective field-theory treatments of the problem of three particles interacting via short-range forces (range R ≪ a2, with a2 the two-body scattering length). We show that forming a once-subtracted scattering equation yields a scattering amplitude whose low-momentum part is renormalization-group invariant up to corrections of O(R3/a23). Since corrections of O(R/a2) and O(R2/a22) can be straightforwardly included in the integral equation’s kernel, a unique solution for 1 + 2 scattering phase shifts and three-body bound-state energies can be obtained up to this accuracy. We use our equation to calculate the correlation between the binding energies of Helium-4 trimers and the atom-dimer scattering length. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent three-dimensional Faddeev calculations that used phenomenological inter-atomic potentials.
5493792
Chiral perturbation theory for electroweak reactions on deuterium
I summarize two recent applications of chiral perturbation theory (XPT) to electromagnetic reactions on deuterium: elastic electron-deuteron scattering and Compton scattering on deuterium. Both calculations have now been carried out to three orders in the chiral expansion. The expansion shows good convergence and is able to reproduce data for |q| ≤ 600 MeV in ed and for ω = 55-95 MeV in γd. These results demonstrate that XPT can be used to reliably compute operators and wavefunctions for low-momentum-transfer reactions in light nuclear systems.
118801994
Perturbation schemes for systems of nucleon and pions: The Relationship of covariant perturbation theory, the convolution integral and time ordered perturbation theory
This paper is the first in a series of three which attempt to resolve the difficulties that have plagued the $NN-\pi NN$ problem for the past ten years. Various theoretical inconsistencies in the current formulation have been pointed out and this work aims to eliminate these inconsistencies and so, we hope, produce agreement with experiment. This is to be done by using covariant perturbation theory, in which these inconsistencies are not present. The covariant perturbation theory is developed starting from a model Lagrangian, in order to fix notation and phases. It is shown that both old-fashioned "time-ordered" perturbation theory and the convolution integral of Kvinikhidze and Blankleider may be recovered from the covariant perturbation theory when certain approximations are made. The connection of these results with the work of Klein, L\'evy, Macke and Kadyshevsky is discussed. Two forthcoming papers will pursue this covariant calculation in the $NN-\pi NN$ system using the model and perturbation scheme developed in this paper and derive fully covariant $NN-\pi NN$ equations without the double counting problems present in previous covariant equations.
14354965
Regularization and renormalization in effective field theories of the nucleon-nucleon interaction
Abstract Some form of nonperturbative regularization is necessary if effective field theory treatments of the NN interaction are to yield finite answers. We discuss various regularization schemes used in the literature. Two of these methods involve formally iterating the divergent interaction and then regularizing and renormalizing the resultant amplitude. Either a (sharp or smooth) cutoff can be introduced, or dimensional regularization can be applied. We show that these two methods yield different results after renormalization. Furthermore, if a cutoff is used, the NN phase shift data cannot be reproduced if the cutoff is taken to infinity. We also argue that the assumptions which allow the use of dimensional regularization in perturbative EFT calculations are violated in this problem. Another possibility is to introduce a regulator into the potential before iteration and then keep the cutoff parameter finite. We argue that this does not lead to a systematically-improvable NN interaction.
122525865
Electroweak reactions on light nuclei in chiral perturbation theory
I discuss the calculation of electromagnetic and weak reactions in few‐nucleon systems using potentials and current operators derived within chiral effective theory (χET). Computations up to O(P3) relative to leading are considered. I first present results that show that at this order χET gives a good description of extant data on the deuteron’s charge and quadrupole form factors for momentum transfers |q|<0.6 GeV. These predictions will be challenged by forthcoming data from BLAST and JLab. I then review calculations pertaining to the χET expansion for weak currents, which has reached unprecedentedaccuracy. When used to anlayze data on the weak‐capture process, 3He(μ−,υμ)3H, it yields a tight constraint on the conserved vector‐current hypothesis.
9016977
Subtractive renormalization of chiral effective theory NN potentials up to next-to-next-to-leading order
We have developed a subtractive renormalization method with which we can evaluate nucleon-nucleon (NN) scattering phase shifts produced by the NN potential obtained at leading, next-to-leading, and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in chiral effective theory ($\chi$ET). In this method the low-energy constants associated with short-distance NN physics are eliminated from the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (LSE) for the NN t-matrix, in favor of physical observables. This allows us to straightforwardly compute scattering phase shifts for ultra-violet cutoffs of at least 10 GeV. We then perform detailed analyses of the maximum cutoff at which the use of a $\chi$ET NN potential in the LSE makes sense.
119183013
Curvature Constraints from the Causal Entropic Principle
Current cosmological observations indicate a preference for a cosmological constant that is drastically smaller than what can be explained by conventional particle physics. The causal entropic principle (Bousso et al.) provides an alternative approach to anthropic attempts to predict our observed value of the cosmological constant by calculating the entropy created within a causal diamond. We have extended this work to use the causal entropic principle to predict the preferred curvature within the 'multiverse'. We have found that values larger than {rho}{sub k}=40{rho}{sub m} are disfavored by more than 99.99% peak value at {rho}{sub {lambda}}=7.9x10{sup -123} and {rho}{sub k}=4.3{rho}{sub m} for open universes. For universes that allow only positive curvature or both positive and negative curvature, we find a correlation between curvature and dark energy that leads to an extended region of preferred values. Our universe is found to be disfavored to an extent depending on the priors on curvature. We also provide a comparison to previous anthropic constraints on open universes and discuss future directions for this work.
118392481
Holographic bounds and finite inflation
We compare two holographic arguments that impose especially strong bounds on the amount of inflation. One comes from the de Sitter Equilibrium cosmology and the other from the work of Banks and Fischler. We find that simple versions of these two approaches yield the same bound on the number of e-foldings. A careful examination reveals that while these pictures are similar in spirit, they are not necessarily identical prescriptions. We apply the two pictures to specific cosmologies which expose potentially important differences and which also demonstrate ways these seemingly simple proposals can be tricky to implement in practice.