Elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering and breakup with chiral forces

Abstract

Results on three-nucleon (3N) elastic scattering and breakup below the pion production threshold are discussed with an emphasis on the need for a three-nucleon force (3NF). The large discrepancies found between a theory based on numerical solutions of 3N Faddeev equations with (semi)phenomenological nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials only and data point to the need for 3NF's. This notion is supported by the fact that another possible reason for the discrepancies in elastic nucleon-deuteron ( Nd) scattering, relativistic effects, turned out to be small. Results for a new generation of chiral NN forces (up to N 4 LO) together with theoretical truncation errors are shown. They support conclusions obtained with standard NN potentials