Uncertainties in the two-nucleon potential and nuclear matter predictions.

Abstract

The effects of uncertainties in the two-nucleon potential on the saturation properties of nuclear matter are studied. The nuclear matter energy is calculated by a recently developed ring-diagram method. The largest variations in the energy are due to ambiguities in the (off-shell) strength of the nuclear tensor force. For the six different realistic potential models considered, the total uncertainty is about 3 MeV for the saturation energy and 0.2 ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ for the saturation Fermi momentum. This variation is substantially smaller than the corresponding one obtained in standard lowest-order Brueckner calculations (6 MeV, 0.3 ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$). The relevance of the tensor force for ring-diagram contributions is investigated systematically.