Recently a method was proposed by which one can obtain rank-1 (for uncoupled channels) and rank-2 (for coupled channels) energy-dependent separable t-matrix representations which are e~act on and half ofF of the energy shell. Fully ofF shell, this representation, though accurate at low energies, is flawed. For uncoupled channels, if the phase shift passes through zero, the representation has a pathology. Here we investigate two methods which overcome this; one due to Haberzettl which we extend to coupled channels, and the second which is based upon selective combination of the elements of Sturmian expansions. We investigate and compare all methods of separation over a range of energies up to 250 MeV for the So and Sq channels with the Paris interaction. Special attention is paid to the convergence of the higher-order Haberzettl expansion and to the comparison of the extended methods for energies around the zero-phase-shift pathology for the So channel. PACS number(s): 21.30.+y
I. INTR, ODUCTIONDespite the fact that the three-body problem can be solved exactly [1,2], separable forms remain essential for solution of many-body problems [3 -7]. Even so, it has been known for many years that separable representations of the two-nucleon (NN) t matrix facilitate convenient and quite accurate solutions of the Faddeev equations for bound and scattering three-nucleon problems [8 -10]. That spurred studies to find separable representations of most sophisticated, particle exchange model, NN interactions (among which those of the Paris [11]and Bonn [12] groups are noteworthy). One reason for such developments was that phenomenological interactions of the past, while parametrized to give correct on-shell NN t matrices (and so agree with measured NN data) were arbitrary with regard to off-energy-shell properties of the t matrix; properties which are directly involved in threebody problem calculations. It has long been hoped that such dependences, along with determination of realistic three-body forces, would permit the use of data from three-nucleon systems to discriminate between the diverse postulates of the basic NN interaction. Indeed such was the case when the Ernst-Shakin-Thaler (EST) separable expansion procedure [13] was used [14] to define the PEST (for the Paris force) and BEST (for the Bonn force) separable interactions [15,16] at a low rank (usually ( 6). But there are many techniques one can Permanent address: now apply to obtain useful separable representations (of t matrices, for example) and an excellent review of them is to be found in Ref. [17].Herein we are concerned with two specific methods of defining very low rank (( 4) separable expansions of a realistic t matrix, and with the link between those methods. The first, a W-matrix expansion, is based upon the formalism of Bartnik, Haberzettl, and Sandhas [18]. In that formalism, the Lippmann-Schwinger equation is so modified that solutions can be found for both bound and continuum cases in terms of solutions (the W matrices) of nonsingular, real but inhomogen...