The three-nucleon bound state with mesonic and internal nucleonic degrees of freedom

Conclusion

Even the simplest properties of the three-nucleon bound state, i.e. binding energy and e.m. properties, cannot be described satisfactorily within the classic picture of the nucleus. The classic format of microscopic nuclear structure needs corrections. Some effects on the three-nucleon bound state arising from the revival of mesonic and internal nucleonic degrees of freedom have been discussed. The effects are by and large beneficial.

The three-nucleon system should be of vital interest for nuclear physics. Calculations of comparable quality for heavier nuclei are still out of reach. Nevertheless, the problems of the classic nucleus as seen in the three-nucleon bound state appear quite characteristic also for heavier nuclei. It therefore appears tempting to simulate the almost exact results of the three-nucleon system in a simplified perturbation-theoretical form and to carry the discussed corrections over to heavier nuclei in the same approximation. In this way the three-nucleon system might not only have philosophical importance for nuclear structure, it might even be of practical usefulness.

The work discussed in sections 2 and 3 has been done in collaboration with W. Bentz, K. Dreissigacker, S. Furui, Ch. Hajduk and W. Strueve. It is supported in part by funds of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) contract Sa 247/3. Computations were done at Regionales Rechenzentrum für Niedersachsen in Hannover.