Recent Advances in the Theory of Nuclear Forces and its Impact on Microscopic Nuclear Struc.pdf

February 2, 2008 4:9 WSPC - Proceedings Trim Size: 9.75in x 6.5in exoct07 1 7 0 0 RECENT ADVANCES IN THE THEORY OF NUCLEAR FORCES 2 AND ITS IMPACT ON MICROSCOPIC NUCLEAR STRUCTURE∗ t c O R. Machleidt Department of Physics, University of Idaho, 6 Moscow, Idaho 83844, U.S.A. 1 E-mail: machleid@uidaho.edu ] h The theory of nuclear forces has made great progress since the turn of the millenium using t- the framework of chiral effective field theory (ChEFT). The advantage of this approach, l which was originally proposed by Weinberg, is that it has a firm basis in quantum- c chromodynamics and allows for quantitative calculations. Moreover, this theory generates u two-nucleon forces (2NF) and many-body forces on an equal footing and provides an n explanation for the empirically known fact that 2NF ≫ 3NF ≫ 4NF. I will present [ the recent advances in more detail and put them into historical context. In addition, I 1 will also provide a critical evaluation of the progress made including a discussion of the v limitations of the ChEFT approach. 0 Keywords: Nuclear forces, nucleon-nucleon interaction, effective field theory, chiral per- 4 turbation theory, nuclear matter. 9 2 0.