Dynamical interpretation of the nucleon–nucleon interaction and exchange currents in the large NC limit

Abstract

Expression of the nucleon–nucleon interaction to order 1/ N C in terms of Fermi invariants allows a dynamical interpretation of the interaction and leads to a consistent construction of the associated interaction currents to order 1/ N C . The numerically significant components of 4 different modern realistic phenomenological interaction models are shown to admit very similar meson exchange interpretations in the large N C limit. Moreover the ratio of the volume integrals of the leading, next-to-leading and next-to-next leading order terms in these interaction models is roughly 300:5–10:0.1, which corresponds fairly well to the ratios of 1/ N C 2 between the terms that would be suggested by the 1/ N C expansion if N C =3. The N C dependence of the electromagnetic and axial interaction currents that are associated with these interaction components is derived and compared to that of the corresponding single nucleon currents.