Chiral symmetry and the nucleon-nucleon interaction (Q2412341)

Summary: We review how nuclear forces emerge from low-energy quantum chromodynamics (QCD) via chiral effective field theory (EFT). During the past two decades, this approach has evolved into a powerful tool to derive nuclear two- and many-body forces in a systematic and model-independent way. We then focus on the nucleon-nucleon \((NN)\) interaction and show in detail how, governed by chiral symmetry, the long- and intermediate-range of the \(NN\) potential builds up order by order. We proceed up to sixth order in small momenta, where convergence is achieved. The final result allows for a full assessment of the validity of the chiral EFT approach to the \(NN\) interaction.