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# A two-pion exchange three-nucleon force based on a realistic 𝜋𝑁 interaction

## I Introduction

Recently T.-Y. Saito and I. R. Afnan (SA)  have calculated the contribution of a $`\pi \pi `$-exchange three-body force (see Fig. 1) to the three-nucleon binding energy in terms of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude using perturbation theory. Their approach determines the contributions of the different $`\pi N`$ partial waves and (via the division of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude into a pole and nonpole term) allows for a consistent determination of the $`\pi NN`$ form factor. The calculations are based on phenomenological separable $`\pi N`$ potentials . The total contribution of this three-body force (TBF) to the binding energy of the triton has been found to be very small. It is typically of the order of a few keV. This result falls short of calculations based on the Tucson-Melbourne (TM) and the Brazilian $`\pi \pi `$-exchange three-nucleon potentials . The latter potentials make a contribution to the binding energy of the triton that is of the order of the discrepancy between experiment and calculations with realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials (i. e. about 1 MeV).

The origin of this surprisingly large difference of two orders of magnitude in the contribution of the three-body force has been the topic of two subsequent very detailed investigations by Saito and Afnan  and Murphy and Coon . SA concluded that the total contribution of the TBF to the binding energy of the triton found in their approach is so small as a result of the energy dependence of the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes, cancellations between the contributions from the S- and P-wave $`\pi N`$ partial waves, and in particular, the soft $`\pi NN`$ form factor. Indeed the form factors extracted from their $`\pi N`$ interaction models correspond to monopole cutoff masses of around or even less than 0.4 GeV - which have to be compared to values of about 0.7 - 0.8 GeV suggested from other information  and to the value of 0.8 GeV used in calculations with the TM potential.

Murphy and Coon carried out a thorough comparison of the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes that underlie the TM TBF and the calculations of SA . They criticized that the amplitudes used by SA do not fulfil the low-energy theorems of the $`\pi N`$ interaction as imposed by chiral symmetry. But still they attested that these amplitudes are qualitatively similar to the one used in the TM potential. The prime reason for the two-orders-of-magnitude discrepancy found in the contributions of the TBF was suspected to be likewise the soft $`\pi NN`$ form factor emerging from the phenomenological separable $`\pi N`$ interactions employed by SA.

In the present paper we want to re-investigate the origin of this large discrepancy in the predicted contribution of the TBF. We follow the same approach as SA. However, we start out from a meson-theoretical $`\pi N`$ model developed recently by the Jülich group . This model, besides being conceptionally much better founded than the simple separable potentials employed in Refs. , has the important advantage that it does not exhibit those deficiencies which led to a criticism on the work by Saito and Afnan. Firstly, the Jülich model is in agreement with empirical information on the $`\pi N`$ amplitude in the subthreshold region . In particular its prediction for the amplitude at the so-called Cheng-Dashen point is close to the empirical value. Second, and most importantly it yields $`\pi NN`$ form factors which are comparable to those of the TM potential, with monopole cutoff masses of around 0.7 GeV . Therefore this model provides an ideal starting point for re-assessing the role of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF in the binding of the three-nucleon system.

The paper is structured in the following way: In Section II we review the salient features of the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model. In particular we concentrate on those properties that are relevant for the present study. The specific structure of our three-nucleon code makes it necessary to represent the meson-theoretical $`\pi N`$ amplitude in separable form. For this purpose we applied the so-called EST method  which allows to generate separable representations that agree exactly (on- and half-off-shell) with the original interaction at specific predetermined energies. This method is briefly described also in Section II. Furthermore, we discuss the reliability of the separable representation by comparing (off-shell) amplitudes obtained from it to the ones of the original Jülich model for various $`\pi N`$ partial waves.

The formulation of the TBF is given in Section III together with a short outline of the formalism. Results for the contribution of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF to the triton binding energy, based on the $`\pi N`$ amplitude of the Jülich model are presented in Section IV. Anticipating our results we find again that the TBF is very small. Therefore, in Section V, we embark on a detailed discussion of the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes on which the TM TBF and our calculation are based. We focus specifically on the off-shell properties of these amplitudes since they are determined quite differently in the two approaches. Indeed, we will argue that much of the observed two-orders-of-magnitude discrepancy in the binding energy is due to off-shell effects and we will present numerical evidence for this conjecture. Finally, a summary is given in Section VI.

## II The $`\pi N`$ interaction

The $`\pi N`$ models employed in the present investigation are based on meson exchange and have been developed by the Jülich Group . They include the s-channel and u-channel nucleon and delta-isobar pole diagrams together with correlated $`\pi \pi `$ exchange in the $`J^P=0^+`$ ($`\sigma `$) and $`1^{}`$ ($`\rho `$) channels as shown in Fig. 2. The interaction potentials are derived in time ordered perturbation theory and then unitarized by means of a relativistic (Lippmann-Schwinger type) scattering equation

$$T=V+VG_0T.$$
(1)
The resulting models account for the scattering data in the elastic region as well as for the low-energy parameters . Furthermore they also satisfy chiral symmetry constraints. In particular, the resulting values for the so-called $`\pi N`$ $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ term (the contribution of the isoscalar forward scattering amplitude at the Cheng-Dashen point) - $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ = 66.4 (65.6) MeV for model 1 (2) of Ref.  \- are in good agreement with the empirical value of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ = 60 MeV .

Since in the discussion of Murphy and Coon  special attention was given to the subthreshold behaviour of the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes, we want to present here the corresponding results for the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model. In the continuation of the T-matrix for the potential models to the subthreshold region, we follow the procedure outlined in section 4 of Ref. . We calculated the (on-shell) background isoscalar amplitude $`\overline{F}^+(\nu ,t)`$ (conventionally called $`\overline{D}^+`$; for definition see, e.g., Refs. ) from the subthreshold point $`\nu =0`$, $`t=0`$ to the Cheng-Dashen point ($`\nu =0`$, $`t=2m_\pi ^2`$). The predictions of the Jülich models 1 and 2 are shown in Fig. 3 in comparison to the ones of the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes that form the basis of the TM and Brazil $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF. One can see that the results of the meson-exchange models more or less coincide with the $`\pi N`$ amplitude employed in the TM TBF. Furthermore, they are also in rather nice agreement with the empirical subthreshold amplitude given by Höhler .

In a recent paper C. Schütz et al.  have determined the $`\pi NN`$ vertex functions resulting from the models of Ref.  (cf. Ref.  and the Appendix for definitions and relevant formulue). From the vertex functions at the nucleon pole, the decrease in the $`\pi NN`$ form factors $`F_{\pi NN}(p^2)`$ from the pion pole $`p^2=m_\pi ^2`$ to $`p^2=0`$, has been extracted following the procedure proposed by Mizutani et al. . This quantity is a measure for the softness of the $`\pi NN`$ form factor. It has been found that the $`\pi NN`$ form factors implied by the models considered in Ref.  are, in general, significantly harder than the ones used by SA in their study of the contribution of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange three-nucleon force to the $`3N`$ binding energy. In particular, the model 2’ of Ref.  yields a decrease in the form factor from the pion pole to $`p^2=0`$ of slightly less then 4% - which is quite close to the value of 3% implied by the form factor introduced in the TM three-nucleon force and also in good agreement with a recent lattice QCD calculation  and other independent information . Accordingly, the major concern raised by Murphy and Coon against the work of SA does not apply for this model and therefore it provides an excellent starting point for re-analyzing the contributions of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange three-nucleon force to the $`3N`$ binding energy in the approach of Saito and Afnan.

In this work we will also present results for the other models considered in Ref.  and it is appropriate to say some words about the basic differences between these models. All the models are based on the same dynamical input (cf. Fig. 2). They differ, however, in the (phenomenological) parametrization of the (bare) vertex form factors. Details and explicit formulae can be found in sect. III of Ref. . Both models provide a similarly good description of the $`\pi N`$ scattering data. However, the differences in the parametrization of the vertex form factors lead to different vertex functions and in turn to different (dressed) $`\pi NN`$ form factors.

Two further models (1’ and 2’) have been presented in Ref.  for the following reason: The models 1 and 2 are constructed by assuming $`\pi NN`$ pseudovector ($`pv`$) coupling. However, the $`\pi NN`$ form factor derived from lattice QCD calculations , and the values of $`F_{\pi NN}(0)`$ from other independent information  (and also the values given for the models used by SA), are based on pseudoscalar ($`ps`$) coupling. In order to allow for a meaningful comparison for the different couplings the authors of Ref.  have constructed variants of models 1 and 2 (labelled 1’ and 2’) where $`ps`$ coupling is used in the nucleon s-channel pole terms.

Values for $`F_{\pi NN}(0)`$ for the various models are compiled in Table I. (Note that $`F_{\pi NN}`$ is normalized to $`F_{\pi NN}(m_\pi ^2)=1`$.) For the ease of comparison we also include here the result for the separable $`\pi N`$ model $`PJ`$ by McLeod and Afnan  which has been used (amongst others) in the investigation by SA and on which most of the concerns and criticism of Murphy and Coon are based. It is evident that for this model the decrease of the form factor from the pion pole to $`p^2=0`$ is much larger - almost 20%. We want to emphasize here, however, that it is the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function which enters into the calculation of the TBF and not the form factor (cf. Section III). Therefore we also show this quantity (cf. Fig. 4). Note that the $`\pi NN`$ vertex functions for models 1 and 1’ are practically the same. Accordingly we expect these models to give the same result for the contributions of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF to the $`3N`$ binding energy, and therefore we will consider only model 1 in the following analysis. Furthermore, the vertex function for model 2 is obviously harder than the one resulting from model 2’ (for small and intermediate momenta) - in contrast the form factors for model 2’ looks harder (cf. Table I). This seemingly paradoxical situation has been discussed thoroughly in Ref. .

Before carrying out the actual three-nucleon calculations the meson-theoretical $`\pi N`$ models have to be expanded in separable form. This is necessitated by the specific structure of our three-nucleon code which can only deal with interaction models given in separable form. For this purpose we apply the so-called Ernst-Shakin-Thaler (EST) method  which allows us to generate separable representations of arbitrary rank $`N`$ that agree exactly (on- and half-off-shell) with the original reaction matrix at $`N`$ specific predetermined energies.

Let us begin with the (partial wave projected) Lippmann-Schwinger equation for the radial wave function

$$|\psi _E=|k_E+G_0(E)V|\psi _E,$$
(2)
where $`|k_E`$ is the incoming wave and $`G_0(E)`$ the two-body Green’s function. (In Eq. (2) and in the following the partial wave index is suppressed for convenience.) For proper scattering solutions (on-shell) $`k_E`$ and $`E`$ are related by

$$E=\sqrt{m_N^2+k_E^2}+\sqrt{m_\pi ^2+k_E^2}.$$
(3)
According to the EST method a rank-$`N`$ separable representation for the potential $`V`$ is given by

$$\stackrel{~}{V}=\underset{i,j=1}{\overset{N}{}}V|\psi _{E_i}\lambda _{ij}\psi _{E_j}|V,$$
(4)
where $`E_i`$, ($`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$), are $`N`$ freely chosen energies. The coupling strengths $`\lambda _{ij}`$ are determined by the condition

$$\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\lambda _{ij}\psi _{E_j}|V|\psi _{E_k}=\delta _{ik}.$$
(5)
It is evident from Eq. (4) that the ”form factors” of the separable potential $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$  consist of the objects $`V|\psi _{E_i}`$, where $`|\psi _{E_i}`$ are solutions of Eq. (2) for the potential $`V`$ at the energies $`E_i`$. Therefore, by virtue of Eq. (5), the following relation holds

$$\stackrel{~}{V}|\psi _{E_i}=V|\psi _{E_i}=T(E_i)|k_{E_i}=\stackrel{~}{T}(E_i)|k_{E_i}$$
(6)
at the $`N`$ energies $`E_i`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{T}`$ is the solution of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (1) for the separable representation $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$. This means that the on-shell as well as the half-off-shell t-matrix for both interactions $`V`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$ are exactly the same at the energies $`E_i`$.

In the present case the interaction models $`V`$ are energy-dependent and therefore a modification of this scheme proposed by B. Pearce  is employed. According to it the condition

$$\psi _{E_l}|V(E)|\psi _{E_k}=\psi _{E_l}|\stackrel{~}{V}(E)|\psi _{E_k}=\underset{i,j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\psi _{E_l}|V(E_i)|\psi _{E_i}\lambda _{ij}(E)\psi _{E_j}|V(E_j)|\psi _{E_k}$$
(7)
has to be used for determining the coupling strengths $`\lambda _{ij}(E)`$ instead of Eq. (5). As expected also the separable representation becomes now energy-dependent.

A special treatment is required for the $`P_{11}`$ partial wave which contains the (s-channel) nucleon pole. It must be possible to clearly separate the contribution of this pole term from the total $`P_{11}`$ amplitude. Its contribution to the three-nucleon binding energy is already taken into account by solving the standard bound-state Faddeev equations. Therefore, in order to avoid double counting, only the non-pole part of the $`P_{11}`$ must be considered in the present investigation. Furthermore in the consistent approach of SA the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function is extracted from this pole term and is then used for the vertices where the pions are emitted (absorbed) by (at) the outer nucleons. Consequently a separable representation for the $`P_{11}`$ partial wave must guarantee that (a) the non-pole amplitude is reliably reproduced and (b) the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function extracted from the pole term agrees exactly with the one obtained for the original interaction model. This can be achieved and we summarize details of the construction procedure in the Appendix.

Of course if one relies on such separable representations one has to ensure that they incorporate all the relevant properties of the original interaction models. From extensive tests, we find that a rank-1 separable representation is sufficient for the present purpose provided that the expansion energy is choosen in the relevant energy domain (i. e. around the triton binding energy which corresponds to a center-of-mass energy of roughly 930 MeV in the $`\pi N`$ system). Thus we have selected this particular energy for the separable representation to be applied in the present study. Since this energy is below the elastic $`\pi N`$ threshold, $`k_E`$ in Eq. (2) can no longer be fixed by the on-shell condition. Following our previous work  we choose $`k_E`$ in such a way that $`ik_E`$ fulfils Eq. (3). For $`E_1=930`$ MeV this implies $`k_{E_1}138`$ MeV/c.

The quality of the separable represention is demonstrated in the Figs. 5 and 6 for model 2. Fig. 5 shows the off-shell transition amplitude $`T_\alpha (q,q^{};Z)`$ for fixed off-shell momenta $`q=q^{}=130`$ MeV as a function of the total energy $`Z`$. Note that in case of the $`P_{11}`$ partial wave only the non-pole part of the t-matrix is shown since, as explained above, this is the part relevant for the present study. Fig. 6 shows the transition amplitude $`T_\alpha (q,q^{};Z)`$ for fixed $`Z`$ and $`q^{}`$ as a function of the other off-shell momentum. In the latter figure we display only results for those partial waves that are expected to give the dominant contribution of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange three-nucleon force to the $`3N`$ binding energy , namely $`S_{31}`$, $`P_{11}`$, and $`P_{33}`$. We want to point out, however, that the agreement in the other partial waves is of similar quality. Likewise we want to refrain from displaying corresponding results for the model 1 here since the quality of its separable representation is pretty much the same. Furthermore, we do not show the $`\pi NN`$ vertex functions resulting from the separable representation because - by construction - they are identical to the ones of the original model (cf. the Appendix).

Note that we have also constructed rank-1 separable representations where the expansion energies are near the $`\pi N`$ threshold ($`E_1=1077`$ MeV for $`S_{11}`$; $`E_1=1000`$ MeV for $`S_{31}`$; $`E_1=1100`$ MeV for $`P_{11}`$, $`P_{31}`$, $`P_{13}`$, $`P_{33}`$). (In case of the $`S_{31}`$ partial wave the amplitude around 1077 MeV has a peculiar energy dependence which would require, in principle, a rank-2 representation. In order to avoid this complication we have chosen a somewhat lower value for $`E_1`$.) These representations will be also employed in our investigations. They will serve as a term of reference for how strongly the resulting $`3N`$ binding energies depend on the specific choice of the separable representation.

## III Formulation of the three-body force

In this section we formulate the TBF using the $`\pi N`$ amplitude and $`\pi NN`$ vertex function which have been derived in the previous section.

We follow the prescription by SA. The TBF is schematically shown in Fig. 7, i.e., (i) a pion is emitted from the first nucleon, (ii) the pion is scattered off the second nucleon, (iii) the pion is absorbed by the third nucleon. The strength function of pion emission and absorption is given by the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function which depends on the energy of the $`\pi N`$ system as explained in the previous section. Also the $`\pi N`$ amplitude corresponding to the scattering of the pion on the second nucleon is energy dependent and includes only the non-pole contribution in the $`P_{11}`$ channel. We introduce Jacobi variables in the $`\pi NNN`$ system so that we define the $`\pi N`$ relative momenta and energies at the stages (i), (ii) and (iii).

The momenta of the three nucleons before the three-body interaction in Fig. 7 are given by $`𝐤_1`$, $`𝐤_2`$ and $`𝐤_3`$ and the momenta after the interaction are $`𝐤_1^{}`$, $`𝐤_2^{}`$ and $`𝐤_3^{}`$, respectively. We define the relative momenta between the third nucleon and the system of first and second nucleons and pion ($`𝐪_3`$), between the second nucleon and the system of first nucleon and pion ($`𝐩_3`$) and between the first nucleon and pion ($`𝐐_3`$) at the stage (i)

$`𝐪_3`$ $`=`$ $`𝐤_3,`$ (8)
$`𝐩_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_N(𝐤_\pi +𝐤_1^{})(m_N+m_\pi )𝐤_2}{(2m_N+m_\pi )}},`$ (9)
$`𝐐_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_N𝐤_\pi m_\pi 𝐤_1^{}}{(m_N+m_\pi )}},`$ (10)
where $`𝐤_\pi `$ is the pion momentum. Then the center-of-mass energy in the system of first nucleon and pion, $`E_3`$, is obtained using those relative momenta

$$E_3=E+m_N\frac{q_3^2}{2\mu _2}\frac{p_3^2}{2\mu _1}$$
(11)
where $`E=E_T`$ is the total energy of the whole system not including rest masses, and the reduced masses $`\mu _1`$ and $`\mu _2`$ are defined, respectively, by the relations

$$\frac{1}{\mu _1}=\frac{1}{m_N}+\frac{1}{m_N+m_\pi },$$
(12)
and

$$\frac{1}{\mu _2}=\frac{1}{m_N}+\frac{1}{2m_N+m_\pi }.$$
(13)
In the same way we define the relative momenta and energies of the system of second nucleon and pion, $`𝐐_3^{}`$ (before scattering), $`𝐐_1^{}`$ (after scattering) and $`E_2`$ at the stage (ii) and $`𝐐_1`$ and $`E_1`$ of the system of third nucleon and pion at the stage (iii), respectively.

Using these $`\pi N`$ relative momenta and energies the TBF, $`W(E)`$, can be symbolically written as

$$W(E)=v_{\pi N}^R(Q_1;E_1)G_{\pi NNN}(E)T_{\pi N}(Q_1^{},Q_3^{};E_2)G_{\pi NNN}(E)v_{\pi N}^R(Q_3;E_3).$$
(14)
Here, $`v_{\pi N}^R(Q_i;E_i)`$ ($`i=`$ 1, 3) is the renormalized $`\pi NN`$ vertex function (cf. the Appendix) which gives the strength of the pion emission and absorption on the nucleon. $`G_{\pi NNN}(E)`$ is the propagator of the $`\pi NNN`$ system and $`T_{\pi N}(Q_1^{},Q_3^{};E_2)`$ is the non-pole part of the $`\pi N`$ scattering amplitude. Eq. (14) represents how the pion is emitted from the first nucleon, scattered off the second nucleon, and then absorbed by the third nucleon. Note that the $`\pi N`$ amplitude and the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function are determined in the same framework, i. e. they are obtained from the same $`\pi N`$ interaction model. A detailed discussion of Eq. (14) can be found in Ref. . Since in the Jülich model the energy is defined fully relativistic whereas a semi-relativistic form is employed by SA, we have to change the $`\pi NNN`$ propagator of Ref.  to be

$$G_{\pi NNN}(E)=\left(E_i\sqrt{Q_i^2+m_N^2}\sqrt{Q_i^2+m_\pi ^2}\right)^1,$$
(15)
with $`i=`$ 1 or 3 (cf. Eq. (4.9) of Ref. ).

## IV Results

The contribution of the TBF to the binding energy of the three-nucleon system, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E^{(3)}`$, is calculated in first order perturbation theory, i. e.

$$\mathrm{\Delta }E^{(3)}=\mathrm{\Psi }|W(E_T)|\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(16)
where $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is the triton wave function. This wave function is obtained from solving the Faddeev equations for the so-called PEST potential  which is a separable representation of the Paris $`NN`$ potential  derived by the EST method. All nucleon-nucleon partial waves with total angular momentum less than or equal two are employed in the calculation. The triton properties obtained by the PEST potential are comparable with those by the original Paris potential as shown in Refs. .

Evidently, like in the work by SA there is no consistency between the $`NN`$ interaction which is used to generate the triton wave function and the TBF. However, we are making use of the Born approximation and therefore the triton wave function and the TBF are obtained separately, anyway. Thus, as argued already by SA , we do not expect that this inconsistency has an influence on the qualitative features of our results. One should also keep in mind that a similar inconsistency is involved in standard $`3N`$ calculations employing the TM TBF.

The contributions of the TBF generated by the $`\pi N`$ models 1, 2 and 2’ of Ref.  to the $`3N`$ binding energy are listed in Table I. These results are based on the separable representations of the original interaction models described in the preceeding section. Note that the value of 930 MeV is used for the expansion energy since we expect the average $`\pi N`$ energy in the three-nucleon system to be near this value. In Table I also the result for model $`PJ`$ of Ref.  is listed for the sake of comparison. Thus, it is easy to see that our results are qualitatively very similar to those of SA. Again the contibutions of the individual $`\pi N`$ partial waves to the $`3N`$ binding energy are very small (only in the order of $`keV`$) and there is again a strong cancellation between the attractive $`P_{11}`$ and $`P_{33}`$ partial waves and the repulsive $`S_{31}`$ partial wave.

In Ref.  Murphy and Coon have presented a thorough comparison of the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes used in the TM and Brazilian TBF and the one applied in the calculations by SA. Their main conclusion was that the two-orders-of-magnitude smaller value for the binding energy resulting from the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF based upon the separable models of SA is most likely due to the very soft form factor resulting from these potentials. Therefore we want to look now at the $`\pi N`$ form factors extracted from the models applied in the present study. The values for $`F_{\pi NN}(0)`$ are also given in Table I. Note that model 2’ yields the hardest $`\pi NN`$ form factor which corresponds to a monopole form factor with a cutoff mass of about 708 MeV whereas the model $`PJ`$ of SA corresponds to a monopole form factor with a cutoff mass of just 317 MeV. From comparing different columns of Table I one might conclude that there is some influence of the form factor on the magnitude of the TBF. However, the variations in the individual partial wave contributions are only around a factor of two or three and definitely not two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the cancellation effects are independent of the softness of the $`\pi NN`$ form factor and they tend to reduce the variations in the total contribution. In fact, the results for the $`\pi N`$ models considered in the present paper lie all within a range of 15 $`keV`$, as can be seen from Table I.

At this point one may wonder how reliable results based on a rank 1 separable approximation of the Jülich models are. In order to estimate the uncertainty due to the simplicity of the representation we constructed another rank 1 represention where the expansion energy was chosen at $`\pi N`$ threshold (for the S-waves) or slightly above. Specifically we chose 1077 MeV for $`S_{11}`$, 1000 MeV for $`S_{31}`$ and 1100 MeV for the other partial waves. The results for these alternative separable representations are compared with the ones obtained for our ’standard’ choice in Table II. From this Table we see that there are variations of the order of $`2030\%`$ in some partial waves - but qualitatively there is no change in the results. Therefore we are confident that the used rank-1 separable representations are sufficiently accurate for the aim of the present investigation.

## V Discussion

We conclude from the previous section that the softness of the $`\pi NN`$ form factor is not responsible for the smallness of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF based on $`\pi N`$ potential models. If so, what makes the contribution to the three-body binding energy so small? In order to shed some light on this let us examine the basic two differences between the TM TBF and the one derived from a $`\pi N`$ potential model. The first difference concerns the energy dependence. The original $`\pi N`$ amplitude on which the TM TBF is based, is given in a covariant form and therefore depends on the energy (of the pion). However, in order to make this TBF suitable for application in standard (non-relativistic) 3N calculations the $`\pi N`$ amplitude is expanded in powers of $`k_\pi /m_N`$ and only the lowest order terms are kept. As a consequene the initial energy dependence drops completely out of the resulting TBF. In the approach of SA the TBF is energy dependent in a two-fold way, namely via the $`\pi N`$ amplitude but also via the $`\pi NN`$ form factor. The effect of switching off this energy dependence in the TBF has been analyzed thoroughly in Ref.  where it was found that it leads to a sizeable increase in the resulting binding energy. However, it was concluded by SA that the approximation of fixing the energy in the $`\pi N`$ amplitude and the $`\pi NN`$ form factor does not lead to a sufficiently large change in the contributions to make them comparable with the result for the TM TBF. None the less we would like to look at this point again because (unlike the potentials employed by SA) now the $`\pi N`$ interaction model itself is energy dependent and therefore the effects from the energy dependence might be stronger. Note that in the present case the energy dependence of the TBF enters at three levels: (a) the energy dependence of the $`\pi N`$ potential itself; (b) the energy dependence of the $`\pi N`$ t-matrix; (c) the energy dependence of the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function.

We investigate the role of the energy dependence by fixing the energy at $`E=930`$ MeV. This is the value chosen for constructing the separable interaction via the EST method and, accordingly, where the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes generated by the Jülich model and its separable representation agree almost exactly. Thus, the results for our rank-1 separable interaction should be practically identical to the one for the original Jülich model in the particular case where the whole energy dependence (a)-(c) is fixed. Corresponding values are given in the last column of Table III. The numbers in the third column of Table III are obtained by fixing only the energy dependence of the $`\pi N`$ interaction. For the ease of comparison results without restricting the energy dependence are also shown in the Table. We see that the contribution of each $`\pi N`$ partial wave is enhanced by about 50% after fixing the energy dependence of the potential. Fixing the energy dependence also in the $`\pi N`$ t-matrix and the $`\pi NN`$ form factor leads to a further increase in the contributions from the $`P_{11}`$ and $`P_{33}`$ waves and to a slight suppression in the $`S_{31}`$. However, those approximations definitely do not provide any really substantial enhancement of the resulting triton binding - in line with the findings of SA. All results shown in Table III are obtained by using model 2’. The other models behave qualitatively very similar and therefore we don’t give the corresponding numbers here.

The other major difference between the TM force and the TBF based on a $`\pi N`$ potential concerns the off-shell extrapolation of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude. In the Jülich model the off-shell properties of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude are completely determined by the dynamical ingredients of the $`\pi N`$ model and the fit to the $`\pi N`$ data. Since also for the potential models employed by SA the off-shell properties are, in principle, constrained by a fit to $`\pi N`$ data let us emphasize the main difference here. In case of phenomenological separable interactions the off-shell behavior is, to a large extend, determined by the specific choice of the form-factor function. Moreover, separable interactions act only in single partial waves and accordingly the free parameters are determined by fitting only a single partial wave. On the other hand, in a meson-exchange potential like the Jülich model the dynamical ingredients give, in general, contributions to all partial waves and therefore the free parameters in this model - which are essentially the cutoff masses in the (baryon-baryon-meson) vertex form factors  \- are much better constrained by a fit to the $`\pi N`$ data. Clearly also here differences in the dynamics and/or differences in the parametrization of the vertex form factors will lead to variations in the off-shell properties of the resulting $`\pi N`$ amplitude. Indeed such differences exist between the models 1 and 2 (or 2’) considered here. But, as we have already seen in the last section, they to not lead to any significant variations in the results for the TBF.

The $`\pi N`$ amplitude used in the TM force is given by (cf., e.g., Ref. )

$$T_{\pi N}^{ij}(𝐤_\pi ,𝐤_\pi ^{})=F_{\pi NN}(𝐤_\pi ^2)F_{\pi NN}(𝐤_\pi ^2)\left\{\delta ^{ij}\left[a+b𝐤_\pi 𝐤_\pi ^{}+c(𝐤_\pi ^2+𝐤_\pi ^2)\right]dϵ^{ijk}\tau ^k\sigma 𝐤_\pi \times 𝐤_\pi ^{}\right\},$$
(17)
where $`i,j`$ are pion (cartesian) indices, $`𝐤_\pi `$ and $`𝐤_\pi ^{}`$ are the momenta of the incoming and outgoing (off-shell) pions, and $`a`$, $`b`$, $`c`$, and $`d`$ are constants defined, e.g., in Ref. . Evidently the off-shell extrapolation is provided by the form factor function $`F_{\pi NN}`$ . In the standard version of the TM force this form factors are assumed to be of monopole type,

$$F_{\pi NN}(𝐤_\pi ^2)=\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi ^2m_\pi ^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi ^2+𝐤_\pi ^2},$$
(18)
with a cutoff mass $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi =5.8m_\pi 800`$ MeV. We would like to emphasize at this point that, in principle, there is no connection between the $`\pi NN`$ vertex (with an off-shell pion) and the $`\pi N`$ amplitude entering into the TBF. It would appear only in the contribution of the direct nucleon pole diagram to the $`\pi N`$ amplitude, which, however, is omitted in order to avoid double counting (cf. the discussion in section II). Therefore the prescription for the off-shell extrapolation used in the TM force must be considered as rather arbitrary.

In the discussion above we have tacitly ignored a conceptional subtlety when we talk about ”off-shell”. In case of the Jülich model the $`\pi N`$ amplitude is obtained off-energy-shell, while an off-mass-shell $`\pi N`$ amplitude is used in the TM potential. This means, that we can not make a simple comparison between them. The off-pion-mass-shell $`\pi N`$ amplitude of the TM force depends on the pion momenta $`𝐤_\pi `$ and $`𝐤_\pi ^{}`$. The off-energy-shell value of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude for the potential model (at a certain energy) is given as a function of the relative momentum between the pion and the nucleon, $`𝐐`$. Within non-relativistic kinematics $`𝐐`$ is obtained by (cf. Eq. (10))

$$𝐐=\frac{𝐤_\pi \frac{m_\pi }{m_N}𝐤_N}{1+\frac{m_\pi }{m_N}},$$
(19)
where $`𝐤_𝐍`$ is the nucleon momentum. One can see from this relation that $`𝐐`$ becomes equivalent to $`𝐤_\pi `$ only in the limit of $`m_\pi /m_N0`$.

In the following we want to discuss the off-shell properties entering into the calculations with the TM force and into the results presented in this paper. In view of the aforementioned difficulties it should be clear that any comparision can be only of qualitative nature. None the less, as we will see below such an analysis is useful and we believe that it indicates the source of the large discrepancy found in the contributions to the binding energy from the two approaches.

For this purpose let us introduce a half-off-shell function in the following way,

$$f_\alpha (Q)=\frac{T_\alpha (Q,Q^{};Z)}{Q^l}$$
(20)
where $`T_\alpha (Q,Q^{};Z)`$ is the off-shell $`\pi N`$ t-matrix (projected on the partial wave $`\alpha `$ with angular momentum $`l`$) at a fixed energy $`Z`$ and a fixed momentum $`Q^{}`$. The factor $`Q^l`$ is taken out for convenience because then we can normalize these half-off-shell functions to $`1`$ at $`Q=0`$ for s- as well p-waves and we can easily compare them with each other. Corresponding results for the Jülich $`\pi N`$ potential 2’ are shown in Fig. 8, where $`Z`$ and $`Q^{}`$ in Eq. (20) have been fixed to 930 MeV and 130 MeV/c, respectively.

Let us first take a look at the p-waves and in particular at the $`P_{11}`$ and $`P_{33}`$ partial waves which provide the main attractive contributions to the TBF (cf. Table I). In this case the momentum dependence of the TM $`\pi N`$ amplitudes is roughly given by a monopole type function $`F(𝐐^2)=\mathrm{\Lambda }^2/(\mathrm{\Lambda }^2+𝐐^2)`$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=800`$ MeV, cf. Eqs. (17-18), which is shown by the dashed curve in Fig. 8. We observe that the corresponding half-off-shell functions of the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model fall off much faster with increasing (off-shell) momentum than this function. Accordingly we expect that a TBF based on the potential model will yield a much smaller attractive contribution to the three-body binding than one with off-shell properties similar to the monopole type function.

In case of the s-waves we get large repulsive contributions from the $`S_{31}`$ partial waves and small attractive contributions from $`S_{11}`$ (cf. Table I). Please note that also the corresponding half-off-shell functions are radically different. The one for $`S_{31}`$ exhibits a strong enhancement whereas the one for $`S_{11}`$ falls off very strongly with increasing (off-shell) momentum. The s-wave part of the TM force ($`a`$\- and $`c`$-terms), on the other hand, has no isospin dependence, cf. Eq. (17). This means that here the $`S_{31}`$ and $`S_{11}`$ partial waves have exactly the same momentum dependence. Therefore we suspect that a strong cancellation between the contributions from those two s-waves takes place. Indeed, actual triton calculations employing the TM force confirm that the total s-wave contributions are comparably small . Evidently, such a cancellation does not occur with the TBF based on the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model because of the differences in the off-shell properties. As a consequence, the (large) repulsive contribution of the $`S_{31}`$ partial wave to the three-body binding survives (cf. Table I).

Summarizing this phenomenological discussion of the off-shell properties we expect that a calculation based on the off-shell extrapolation used in the TM force should lead to a strong enhancement of the attractive contributions and at the same time reduce the repulsive contributions. We believe that this is the basic mechanism which makes the binding energy obtained with the TM TBF so large. We would like to substantiate this claim quantitatively with a model calculation. We can do this by substituting the off-shell properties of our $`\pi N`$ model by the ones used in the TM force. This can be easily done for the separable representations that we are using. We only need to replace the Jülich off-shell behavior by defining the form factor of the separable potential, $`g_\alpha (Q):=Q|V_\alpha |\psi _{E_1}`$, as follows:

$$g_\alpha (Q)\left(\underset{Q0}{lim}\frac{g_\alpha (Q)}{Q^l}\right)\frac{Q^l}{1+Q^2/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}.$$
(21)
Furthermore we fix the energy dependence in the $`\pi N`$ amplitude and the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function again.

We demonstrate the effect on the binding energy for several values of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in Table IV. From this Table it is clear that we can get a substantial increase in the triton binding energy by choosing $`\mathrm{\Lambda }600800`$ MeV. Specifically one can see that the repulsion of the $`S_{31}`$ partial wave is suppressed and, moreover, cancels to a large extent with the $`S_{11}`$. At the same time the attraction provided by the $`P_{11}`$ and $`P_{33}`$ partial waves is strongly enhanced - as we expected from analyzing Fig. 8. In fact, if we take into account that our results are based on first-order perturbation theory and therefore may underestimate the correct values by a factor two or even three  then our simulation with the choice $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=800`$ MeV practically reproduces the TM result, which is likewise based on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\pi =800`$ MeV.

## VI Summary

In the present paper we have re-investigated the origin of the large discrepancy in the contribution of a $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF found by Saito and Afnan to the commenly accepted values obtained with the Tucson-Melbourne or Brazil TBF. Unlike SA, who employed phenomenological separable potentials, we started out from a meson-theoretical $`\pi N`$ interaction model developed recently by the Jülich group. This model provides a good description of elastic $`\pi N`$ scattering data. It is also in agreement with empirical information on the $`\pi N`$ amplitude in the subthreshold region. In particular, it predicts the $`\pi N`$ $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ term close to the empirical value. Furthermore, the decrease in the $`\pi NN`$ form factors $`F_{\pi NN}(q^2)`$ from $`q^2=m_\pi ^2`$ to $`q^2=0`$ of about 4-7% and is comparable to that of the TM potential. Thus the form factors are much harder than those used by SA (which show a decrease of up to 20 %). Accordingly, the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model does not show the deficiencies which, so far, have been thought to be the main reason for the small contribution of the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF in SA’s work.

None the less it turned out that also the $`\pi \pi `$-exchange TBF based on the $`\pi N`$ amplitude of the Jülich model is very small. The contributions to the triton binding energy are in the order of a few $`keV`$, which means comparable to the results obtained by Saito and Afnan.

A detailed analysis of the main differences between the TM TBF and that derived from the Jülich $`\pi N`$ potential model suggests that the differences in the contribution of the TBF to the 3N binding energy is due to the off-shell behaviour of the non-pole $`\pi N`$ amplitude. In the Jülich model the off-shell properties of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude are determined by the dynamical ingredients of the model and the fit to the $`\pi N`$ data. As a result, the off-shell properties of the amplitude are different in the individual $`\pi N`$ partial waves. In particular, the $`\pi N`$ amplitudes that provide attractive contributions to the three-body binding ($`P_{11}`$, $`P_{33}`$) fall off relatively fast with increasing off-shell momentum while the repulsive $`S_{31}`$ partial wave is enhanced. As a consequence, the total contribution of the TBF is very small as a result of the cancellation effects. On the other hand, in the $`\pi N`$ amplitude underlying the TM TBF, the off-shell extrapolation is done in terms of a monopole form factor with a cut-off mass of 800 MeV for all partial waves. Since this monopole form factor falls off much slower then the $`P_{11}`$ and $`P_{33}`$ amplitudes of the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model, the corresponding attraction provided by the TM force is considerably enhanced. At the same time, the repulsion in the $`S_{31}`$ partial wave (and therefore any cancellation effects) is strongly suppressed. These combined effects do indeed explain the two-orders-of-magnitude discrepancy in the resulting contribution to the triton binding energy as we have demonstrated in a numerical model study.

Naturally the question arises how realistic and well-defined the off-shell properties of the Jülich $`\pi N`$ model are, especially in view of the so-called quasi-potential ambiguity . This is a topic which needs to be further investigated in the future, but it is certainly beyond the scope of the present paper. Here we only want to point to the fact that rather different ansatzes for the $`\pi N`$ interaction (meson-exchange and simple separable forms, respectively) lead to qualitatively similar off-shell features and, in consequence, to similar results for the TBF. Qualitatively similar off-shell properties seem to be also predicted by other $`\pi N`$ models - at least as far as we can judge from corresponding publications .

With regard to the off-shell extrapolation used in the $`\pi N`$ amplitude on which the TM TBF is based the situation is, in our opinion, much less clear. First of all, we do not see any stringent physical reason for adopting the $`\pi NN`$ form factor for this purpose, especially because no $`\pi NN`$ vertex is present at all in the non-nucleon-pole part of the $`\pi N`$ amplitude that enters into the derivation of the TBF. Furthermore, the choice of having the same off-shell properties in all $`\pi N`$ partial waves is also hard to justify. Therefore the large contribution of the TM (and also the Brazil) TBF to the triton binding energy of around 1 MeV - though certainly desired by phenomenology - must be interpreted with caution.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. I.R. Afnan for valuable discussions and for a careful reading of the manuscript. We acknowledge the hospitality of the RCNP in Osaka, Japan, where most of the numerical calculations were carried out. This work was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant no. 447 AUS-113/3/0) and by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

Appendix: Separable expansion of a potential with two terms

We consider to represent a potential $`V`$ which consists of two terms, $`V=V_1+V_2`$, in separable form. At first we expand $`V_2`$ by means of the standard EST-method, cf. Eqs. (2) to (6). Then the t-matrix $`\stackrel{~}{T}_2(E)`$ obtained from the separable representation $`\stackrel{~}{V}_2`$ agrees (on- as well as half-off-shell) with $`T_2(E)`$ corresponding to $`V_2`$ at the choosen expansion energies $`E=E_i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$.

Next we expand the potential $`V`$ by assuming the following form

$$\stackrel{~}{V}(E)=|\stackrel{~}{v}_0\lambda _1(E)\stackrel{~}{v}_0|+\stackrel{~}{V}_2.$$
(22)
We determine the ”form factor” $`|\stackrel{~}{v}_0`$ in such a way that $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$ satisfies

$$V|\psi _\epsilon =\stackrel{~}{V}(\epsilon )|\psi _\epsilon ,$$
(23)
where $`|\psi _\epsilon `$ is a solution of the scattering equation,

$$|\psi _\epsilon =|k_\epsilon +G_0(\epsilon )V|\psi _\epsilon ,$$
(24)
at a fixed predetermined energy $`\epsilon `$. We want to emphasize that we may choose the energy $`\epsilon `$ at which the potential $`V`$ is expanded to be different from any of the energies $`E_i`$ chosen for the separable expansion of $`V_2`$ . We see easily that Eq. (23) is satisfied if we choose $`|\stackrel{~}{v}_0`$ to be

$$|\stackrel{~}{v}_0=(V\stackrel{~}{V}_2)|\psi _\epsilon ,$$
(25)
and $`\lambda _1(\epsilon )`$ to be

$`\lambda _1(\epsilon )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\psi _\epsilon |V\stackrel{~}{V}_2|\psi _\epsilon }}`$ (26)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{v}_0|\psi _\epsilon }}`$ (27)
Note that the (half-off-shell) t-matrix $`\stackrel{~}{T}(E)`$ obtained from $`\stackrel{~}{V}(\epsilon )`$ is identical to $`T(E)`$ obtained from $`V`$ at $`E=\epsilon `$ because of condition (23).

If $`T(E)`$ has a pole at $`E_p`$ we may choose the expansion energy $`\epsilon `$ for the separable representation to be $`\epsilon =E_p`$. The wave function at the pole, $`|\psi _p`$, is a solution of the equation

$$|\psi _p=G_0(E_p)V|\psi _p.$$
(28)
The t-matrix $`\stackrel{~}{T}(E)`$ for the separable potential $`\stackrel{~}{V}(E)`$ is given by

$$\stackrel{~}{T}(E)=|\stackrel{~}{v}(E)\frac{1}{1/\lambda _1(E)\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}(E)}\stackrel{~}{v}(E)|+\stackrel{~}{T}_2(E),$$
(29)
where

$$\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}(E)=\stackrel{~}{v}_0|G_0(E)|\stackrel{~}{v}(E),$$
(30)
and

$$|\stackrel{~}{v}(E)=(1+\stackrel{~}{T}_2(E)G_0(E))|\stackrel{~}{v}_0.$$
(31)
The ”form factor” $`|\stackrel{~}{v}_0`$ is defined by

$$|\stackrel{~}{v}_0=(V\stackrel{~}{V}_2)|\psi _p.$$
(32)
Substituting Eqs. (31) and (32) into Eq. (30) leads to

$$\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}(E)=\stackrel{~}{v}_0|(1+G_0(E)\stackrel{~}{T}_2(E))G_0(E)VG_0(E)\stackrel{~}{T}_2(E)|\psi _p.$$
(33)
We can evaluate $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}(E)`$ at $`E=E_p`$ by using Eq. (28),

$`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}(E_p)`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{f}_0|\psi _p`$ (34)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\lambda _1(E_p)}},`$ (35)
where we have utilized, in addition, Eq. (27). By substituting this result into Eq. (29), we see that the t-matrix $`\stackrel{~}{T}(E)`$ obtained for the separable potential $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$ has the same pole position as the t-matrix of the original potentil $`V`$.

Let us now assume that the first term of the original potential $`V`$ has a separable form,

$$V_1(E)=|v_0\mathrm{\Lambda }(E)v_0|,$$
(36)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(E)`$ is

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }(E)=\frac{1}{Em_0}.$$
(37)
This is exactly the case for the (direct) nucleon pole contribution, Fig. 2(a). Then $`|v_0`$ corresponds to the bare $`\pi NN`$ vertex function and $`m_0`$ is the bare nucleon mass. The solution of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation for $`V=V_1+V_2`$ can then be written as

$$T(E)=|v(E)\frac{1}{1/\mathrm{\Lambda }(E)\mathrm{\Sigma }(E)}v(E)|+T_2(E),$$
(38)
where $`T_2(E)`$ is a solution of the scattering equation for the potential $`V_2`$. The self-energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(E)`$ is given by

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }(E)=v_0|G_0(E)|v(E),$$
(39)
and the dressed $`\pi NN`$ vertex function, $`|v(E)`$, by

$$|v(E)=(1+T_2(E)G_0(E))|v_0.$$
(40)
Assuming that the t-matrix of Eq. (38) has a pole at $`E=m_N`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(m_N)`$ is evaluated as

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }(m_N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Lambda }(m_N)}}`$ (41)
$`=`$ $`m_Nm_0.`$ (42)
Also, the pole part of the t-matrix can be written in the form,

$$T(E)=|v(E)\frac{1}{1/\mathrm{\Lambda }(E)\mathrm{\Sigma }(E)}v(E)|=|v^R(E)\frac{1}{Em_N}v^R(E)|,$$
(43)
which defines the renormalized $`\pi NN`$ vertex function $`|v^R(E)`$. At the pole $`|v^R(E)`$ is given by (cf., e.g., Ref. )

$$|v^R(m_N)=\frac{|v(m_N)}{(1\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}(m_N))^{1/2}},$$
(44)
where

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}(m_N)=v(m_N)|G_0^2(m_N)|v(m_N).$$
(45)
In the last step we have assumed that $`V_2`$ does not dependent on the energy $`E`$. If it does (like in our case) then $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ is determined by

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}(m_N)=\frac{}{E}v_0|G_0(E)|v(E)|_{E=m_N}.$$
(46)
Furthermore, we note that the renormalized vertex function is related to the $`\pi NN`$ coupling constant $`f_{\pi NN}`$ and the $`\pi NN`$ form factor $`F_{\pi NN}`$ by

$$f_{\pi NN}F_{\pi NN}(𝐪^2)a(q)=q|v^R(m_N).$$
(47)
where $`a(q)`$ is a kinematical factor depending on the particular ($`ps`$ or $`pv`$) $`\pi NN`$ coupling (cf. Eqs. (3) and (16) of Ref. ).

The wave function at the pole energy is obtained by solving Eq. (28)

$$|\psi _p=G_0(m_N)|v(m_N).$$
(48)
By substituing Eq. (48) into the $`lhs`$ of Eq. (28), we get another relation between $`|v(m_N)`$ and $`|\psi _p`$,

$$|v(m_N)=V(m_N)|\psi _p.$$
(49)
Now we expand the potential model $`V(E)`$ using the method described above. Then the resulting t-matrix obtained from the separable representation has the same pole position as the original interaction model. We will examine whether also the $`\pi NN`$ coupling constant and form factor determined from the separable representation agree with the ones of the original interaction.

At first, we derive a relation between $`|\stackrel{~}{v}(m_N)`$ and $`|v(m_N)`$. Using Eqs. (31), (32), and finally (49) we obtain

$`|\stackrel{~}{v}(m_N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1+\stackrel{~}{T}_2(m_N)G_0(m_N))(V(m_N)\stackrel{~}{V}_2)|\psi _p`$ (50)
$`=`$ $`V(m_N)|\psi _p`$ (51)
$`=`$ $`|v(m_N).`$ (52)
Eq. (52) implies that the momentum dependence of the $`\pi NN`$ vertex function obtained from the separable representation is identical to the one of the original potential.

The renormalized $`\pi NN`$ vertex function at the pole, $`|\stackrel{~}{v}^R(m_N)`$, for the separable representation $`\stackrel{~}{V}`$ can be calculated in the same way as for the original potential. It is obtained by placing tildes over all quantities in Eq. (44) and (45):

$`|\stackrel{~}{v}^R(m_N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{|\stackrel{~}{v}(m_N)}{(1\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{}(m_N))^{1/2}}},`$ (53)
$`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{}(m_N)`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{v}(m_N)|G_0^2(m_N)|\stackrel{~}{v}(m_N).`$ (54)
Because of Eq. (52) we get

$$\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{}(m_N)=\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}(m_N).$$
(55)
Finally, by substituting Eqs. (52) and (55) into Eq. (53) it follows that

$$|\stackrel{~}{v}^R(m_N)=|v^R(m_N),$$
(56)
and consequently that $`\stackrel{~}{f}_{\pi NN}=f_{\pi NN}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{F}_{\pi NN}(𝐪^2)=F_{\pi NN}(𝐪^2)`$.

In the above discussion we have not specified the form of $`\lambda _1(E)`$, since we needed only the value of $`\lambda _1(E)`$ at the energy $`E=m_N`$ to get the correct half-off shell t-matrix. If we assume $`\lambda _1(E)`$ to be of the form $`1/\lambda _1(E)=E\stackrel{~}{m}_0`$, then $`\stackrel{~}{m}_0`$ can be determined by Eq. (27) (or Eq. (35)) to be

$$\stackrel{~}{m}_0=m_N\psi _p|V\stackrel{~}{V}_2|\psi _p.$$
(57)
Therefore, by following the outlined procedure it is possible to construct a separable representation where (i) the half-off-shell behavior of the non-pole part of the t-matrix (at selected energies), (ii) the pole position, (iii) the $`\pi NN`$ form factor, and (iv) the value of the $`\pi NN`$ coupling constant are the same as in the original interaction model.


format: text

text:
# Quantum spin hydrodynamics and a new spin-current mode in ferromagnetic metals

\[

## Abstract

We derive the quantum spin hydrodynamic equations in a ferromagnetic metal. From these equations we show the existence of a new massive spin-current mode. This mode can be observed in neutron scattering experiments and we discuss the difficulties in seeing it. At the end we discuss the existence of this mode in localized ferromagnets.

\] Propagating collective modes in condensed matter systems are often a consequence of spontaneously broken symmetry. In ferromagnetic systems, the spin rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken leading to the existence of spin waves. They were first observed in iron using neutron scattering experiments in the nineteen fifties. Theoretically spin waves were predicted in lattice models with a ferromagnetic ground state as well as in ferromagnetic Fermi liquids. In paramagnetic metals, spin waves propagate in an external magnetic field. Not all propagating modes are a consequence of spontaneously broken symmetry and an example is zero sound in liquid helium.

In this paper we will demonstrate the existence of a new collective spin mode in ferromagnetic metals. We start from a quasi-classical kinetic equation, the Landau kinetic equation, for the momentum distribution function in a ferromagnetic metal. From this we can derive the dynamic equations for the evolution of the spin density and spin current. In the low temperature limit the spin dynamics is collisionless and dominated by spin precession, and we will call this the quantum spin hydrodynamic (QSH) regime. At higher temperature this dynamics crosses over to the classical spin hydrodynamics (CSH) of Halperin and Hohenberg. In the QSH regime we show that a new massive mode exists along with the usual magnon. While gaped, it exists outside of the particle-hole, Stoner, continuum and therefore it can propagate. From a macroscopic point of view, this mode is induced by the collective oscillations of the spin current and it should be observable in neutron scattering experiments.

In the long wave length limit one can derive the existence of the spin waves from the conservation law for the magnetization in the CSH limit. However, the spin current is not a conserved quantity and therefore one cannot derive propagating modes related to the fluctuations of the spin current from the conservation laws. Here the Landau kinetic equation first used by Abrikosov and Dzyaloshinksii for weak ferromagnetic metals is used to derive the full QSH theory.

We consider a three dimensional, weak itinerant ferromagnet below its Curie temperature. To avoid complications we ignore the effects related to the lattice. The phenomena which we will describe is independent of the lattice, although lattice effects can add more features to the ones that we study. We assume that the itinerant ferromagnet is well described by ferromagnetic Fermi liquid theory. The kinetic equations for the magnetization and the spin current can be derived from the equation for the Fourier transform of the Wigner distribution function $`n_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)`$

$$\frac{n_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)}{t}\frac{1}{i\mathrm{}}F_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }[n;ϵ]=I_Q[n_\stackrel{}{p}^{}],$$
(1)
where

$`F_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }[n;ϵ]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\gamma }{}}{\displaystyle Dp^{}Dqd^3r^{}d^3\rho e^{i\left[(\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{})\stackrel{}{\rho }+\stackrel{}{q}(\stackrel{}{r}\stackrel{}{r}^{})\right]}}`$ (4)
$`\times (ϵ_{\stackrel{}{p}^{}+\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{q}/2}^{\alpha \gamma }(\stackrel{}{r}^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{\rho }}{2}},t)n_\stackrel{}{p}^{}^{\gamma \beta }(\stackrel{}{r}^{},t)`$
$`n_\stackrel{}{p}^{}^{\alpha \gamma }(\stackrel{}{r}^{},t)ϵ_{\stackrel{}{p}^{}\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{q}/2}^{\gamma \beta }(\stackrel{}{r}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}\stackrel{}{\rho }}{2}},t)),`$
$$n_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)=Dqe^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}}a_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{q}/2,\alpha }^{}a_{\stackrel{}{p}+\stackrel{}{q}/2,\beta },$$
(5)
with $`a_{\stackrel{}{p}+\stackrel{}{q}/2,\beta }`$ the single fermion operator for a particle with spin $`\beta `$. Here $`Dq=\frac{d^3q}{(2\pi \mathrm{})^3}`$ and $`ϵ_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)`$ is the effective quasiparticle Hamiltonian. Also $`I_Q`$ is the quantum collision integral which contains contributions from two body collisions and from the rate of change due to the spin precession.

Following Ref. we expand all single body operators in the basis set spanned by the Pauli matrices

$$ϵ_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)=ϵ_\stackrel{}{p}\delta ^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)+\stackrel{}{h}_\stackrel{}{p}(\stackrel{}{r},t)\stackrel{}{\tau }^{\alpha \beta },$$
(6)
$$n_\stackrel{}{p}^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)=n_\stackrel{}{p}\delta ^{\alpha \beta }(\stackrel{}{r},t)+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}(\stackrel{}{r},t)\stackrel{}{\tau }^{\alpha \beta }$$
(7)
at every point $`(\stackrel{}{r},t)`$ of space and time with $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}`$ the magnetization and

$$\stackrel{}{h}_\stackrel{}{p}=\gamma \frac{\mathrm{}}{2}\stackrel{}{}+2Dp^{}f_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{}}^a\stackrel{}{\sigma }_p^{}$$
(8)
the effective magnetic field which is a sum of an external magnetic field $`\stackrel{}{}`$ and an internal magnetic field generated by the quasiparticle interactions $`f_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{}}^a`$. We expand the quasiparticle interactions in spherical harmonics and separate the spin symmetric ($`f_l^s`$) and spin antisymmetric ($`f_l^a`$) parts. The result is

$$N(0)f_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{}}^{\tau \tau ^{}}=\underset{l}{}(F_l^s+F_l^a\stackrel{}{\tau }\stackrel{}{\tau }^{})P_l(\widehat{p}\widehat{p}^{}),$$
(9)
with

$$f_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{}}^{\tau \tau ^{}}f_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{}}^s+f_{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{p}^{}}^a\stackrel{}{\tau }\stackrel{}{\tau }^{}.$$
(10)
Here we treat the quasiparticle interaction as spin rotation invariant. This is possible in the case of small magnetizations and external magnetic fields as explained in. Here $`N(0)`$ is the average density of states, averaged over the two Fermi surfaces. We must note that the condition that the ground state of the metal is ferromagnetic means that $`N(0)f_0^a=F_0^a<1`$.

For an inhomogeneous system the spin quantization axis is position dependent and therefore the spin density

$$\stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)=2Dp\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}(\stackrel{}{r},t)$$
(11)
is position dependent. From the kinetic equation one can obtain the continuity equation for the spin density which reduces to the usual spin conservation law

$$\frac{\stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)}{t}+\frac{}{x_i}j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}(\stackrel{}{r},t)=\gamma \stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)\times \stackrel{}{},$$
(12)
where the spin current is

$$j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}(\stackrel{}{r},t)=2Dp\left[\frac{ϵ_\stackrel{}{p}}{p_i}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}(\stackrel{}{r},t)+\frac{\stackrel{}{h}_\stackrel{}{p}}{p_i}n_\stackrel{}{p}(\stackrel{}{r},t)\right]$$
(13)
and a summation over repeated indices is used. The precession term in the $`r.h.s.`$ of Eq.(10) follows from the non-commutativity of the particle density operator and the quasiparticle Hamiltonian. Assuming that the magnetization is small and that we are close to equilibrium we can linearize the spin current which leads to

$$j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}(\stackrel{}{r},t)=2Dpv_{\stackrel{}{p}_i}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}\left(1+\frac{F_1^a}{3}\right),$$
(14)
because in the Fermi liquid only momenta in the vicinity of the Fermi surface contributes to the magnetization. Here $`\stackrel{}{v}_p=\stackrel{}{}_pϵ_p^0`$, $`n_p^0`$ is the equilibrium distribution function, and $`F_1^a`$ is a Fermi liquid parameter.

Starting from the kinetic equation for the spin density distribution function

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}}{t}}+v_{\stackrel{}{p}_i}{\displaystyle \frac{}{r_i}}\left(\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}{\displaystyle \frac{n_p^0}{ϵ_p}}\stackrel{}{h}_\stackrel{}{p}\right)`$ $`=`$ (15)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}}}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}\times \stackrel{}{h}_\stackrel{}{p}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}}{t}}\right)_{coll.}`$ (16)
then multiplying by the quasiparticle velocity and integrating over the quasiparticle momentum the linearized equation for the spin current takes the form

$$\frac{}{t}j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}(\stackrel{}{r},t)+\frac{}{x_m}\mathrm{\Pi }_{\stackrel{}{\sigma }im}=\left[\frac{}{t}j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}\right]_{prec.}+\left[\frac{}{t}j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}\right]_{coll.},$$
(17)
where the spin stress tensor is

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{\stackrel{}{\sigma }im}=2\left(1+\frac{F_1^a}{3}\right)Dpv_{p_i}v_{p_m}\left(\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}\frac{n_\stackrel{}{p}^0}{ϵ_p}\stackrel{}{h}_\stackrel{}{p}\right).$$
(18)
Next we apply a small, transverse (to the external field and therefore to the magnetization) magnetic field $`\delta \stackrel{}{}=\delta _x\widehat{e}_x+\delta _y\widehat{e}_y`$ which induces a change in the magnetization $`\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}=\delta \sigma _{\stackrel{}{p}x}\widehat{e}_x+\delta \sigma _{\stackrel{}{p}y}\widehat{e}_y`$, where $`\widehat{e}_i`$ are the unit vectors and $`\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}=\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_\stackrel{}{p}^0`$. To make the expansion in spherical harmonics more transparent we define

$$\delta \sigma _\stackrel{}{p}^\pm =\frac{n_\stackrel{}{p}^0}{ϵ_p^0}\nu _\stackrel{}{p}^\pm $$
(19)
and

$$\sigma _\stackrel{}{p}^0=\frac{n_\stackrel{}{p}^0}{ϵ_p^0}\frac{m}{N(0)},$$
(20)
where $`\delta \sigma _\stackrel{}{p}^\pm =\delta \sigma _{\stackrel{}{p}x}\pm i\delta \sigma _{\stackrel{}{p}y}`$, $`\sigma _\stackrel{}{p}^0`$ is the magnitude of the magnetization in the absence of the perturbing field, and $`m`$ is the equilibrium magnetization. We expand in spherical harmonics the quantities

$$\nu _\stackrel{}{p}^\pm =\underset{l}{}\nu _l^\pm P_l(\widehat{p}\widehat{k})$$
(21)
and substitute the corresponding expressions in Eq.(13). Here $`\widehat{k}`$ is the unit vector in the direction of the spin quantization axis. Now Eq.(13) involves terms grouped according to the value of the integer number $`l`$. Next we neglect the terms with $`l>1`$. Although the term $`l=2`$ is very important as we discuss later, the derivation which we present below is clearer and contains all the steps needed for the derivation of the dispersion including higher spherical harmonics. Then using the expansion in spherical harmonics, Eq.(18), and in the presence of an external magnetic field, Eq.(14) reduces to

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}+\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{F_1^a}{3}}\right)\left|1+F_0^a\right|{\displaystyle \frac{v_F^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_i}}\stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)`$ (22)
$`=`$ $`\gamma \stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}\times {\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}}}\left(f_0^a{\displaystyle \frac{f_1^a}{3}}\right)\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}\times \stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{F_1^a}{3}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}}{\tau _D}},`$ (23)
Here we have used a relaxation time approximation for the collision contribution to the spin current.

Before we examine the full spin dynamics coming from Eqs.(10) and (19) it is useful to contrast this with the behavior of a paramagnetic metal. In a paramagnetic Fermi liquid the first two terms on the $`r.h.s.`$ of Eq.(19) are proportional to $`\omega _L=2\gamma `$, where $``$ is the external magnetic field. At high temperature the CSH regime is realized and at low temperature the system crosses over to the precession dominated regime. The cross over scale is set by $`\omega _L\tau _D1`$. This behavior is similar to that in paramagnetic metals. In the ferromagnetic metal the cross over scale is nearly independent of the external magnetic field. To see this we first note that at high temperature, Eq.(19) in the uniform case reduces to

$$\frac{}{t}\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}=\left(1+\frac{F_1^a}{3}\right)\frac{\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}}{\tau _D}$$
(25)
which means that $`\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}`$ exponentially decays and its explicit time dependence can be ignored. In this limit, which is called the classical spin hydrodynamic limit with $`\frac{\stackrel{}{j}}{t}=0`$ the equations reduce to those used by Halperin and Hohenberg and it is easy to derive the dispersion, $`\omega q^2`$ for the spin waves. The quadratic dependence for the Goldstone mode follows from the fact that the order parameter $`m`$ is a conserved charge of the spin rotation algebra. As the system crosses over to low temperature it enters into the QSH regime in which the spin current changes in time due to the precession around the effective field with $`\omega _1^+=2m(f_1^a/3f_0^a)`$. For zero external field the cross over from QSH to CSH occurs when $`\omega _1^+\tau _D1`$. The range of temperatures where $`\omega _1^+\tau _D>>1`$ is what we have referred to as the QSH regime. In this QSH regime we can not ignore the $`\frac{}{t}\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}`$ term in Eq.(19). This as we will see is the source of the new spin-current mode.

There is another way to see the difference between spin waves in a ferromagnetic and a paramagnetic metal. Consider a ferromagnetic metal in an external magnetic field. The magnetization of the metal will align with the external field. If we apply a small pulse in a direction not collinear with the external magnetic field, the magnetization will start to precess around the external field. Next we reduce to zero the external magnetic field. In a paramagnetic metal the polarization will also go to zero and the spin wave will become damped. However, in a ferromagnetic metal the magnetization will continue to precess about the same axis, although no external magnetic field is present to define that axis. Now one can imagine looking at the system from a frame of reference rotating with the magnetization. In this frame of reference there will be no magnetization precession, but there will be a precession of the spin current, because the spin current is not a conserved quantity and as seen from Eqn.(19) it precesses with the frequency $`\omega _1^+`$.

It is instructive to look first at the modes of the system in the simpler case when $`F_l^a=0`$, for $`l>1`$ and the external field is $`=0`$. In that case the equations simplify to

$$\frac{\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)}{t}+\frac{}{x_i}j_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}(\stackrel{}{r},t)=0,$$
(26)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}+c_s^2{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_i}}\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\mathrm{}}}(f_0^a{\displaystyle \frac{f_1^a}{3}})\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}\times \left(\stackrel{}{\sigma }^0+\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }\right)`$ (28)
$`(1+{\displaystyle \frac{F_1^a}{3}}){\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}}{\tau _D}},`$
where $`c_s^2=\left|1+F_0^a\right|(1+\frac{F_1^a}{3})\frac{v_F^2}{3}`$ is the spin wave velocity, with $`v_F`$ the Fermi velocity. Here we have introduced $`\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }=\stackrel{}{\sigma }(\stackrel{}{r},t)\stackrel{}{\sigma }^0`$, with $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }^0=m\widehat{k}`$, where $`m`$ is the magnetization. If the system is in the QSH regime and $`\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{\sigma }^0`$ one can write for the spin current the following hydrodynamic equation

$$\frac{}{t}\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}+c_s^2\frac{}{x_i}\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }=\frac{2}{\mathrm{}}(f_0^a\frac{f_1^a}{3})\stackrel{}{j}_{\stackrel{}{\sigma },i}\times \stackrel{}{\sigma }^0.$$
(29)
Differentiating this equation with respect to $`x_i`$ and using the equation for the spin density we obtain

$$\frac{^2}{t^2}\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }+c_s^2\frac{^2}{x_i^2}\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }+\frac{2}{\mathrm{}}(f_0^a\frac{f_1^a}{3})\frac{\delta \stackrel{}{\sigma }}{t}\times \stackrel{}{\sigma }^0=0.$$
(30)
Below we will set $`\mathrm{}=1`$. Applying again a transverse magnetic field as above Eq.(16) we can write

$$\frac{^2\delta \sigma ^+}{t^2}+c_s^2\frac{^2\delta \sigma ^+}{x_i^2}2im(f_0^a\frac{f_1^a}{3})\frac{\delta \sigma ^+}{t}=0.$$
(31)
Assuming that the solution is of the form

$$\delta \sigma ^+=m^+e^{i(\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{r}\omega t)}$$
(32)
with $`\stackrel{}{q}=q\widehat{e}_x`$ we obtain the dispersion equation

$$\omega ^2+c_s^2q^2+2m(f_0^a\frac{f_1^a}{3})\omega =0.$$
(33)
The two modes have the dispersion

$$\omega _l=\left|m(f_0^a\frac{f_1^a}{3})\right|\left(1\pm \sqrt{1\frac{c_s^2q^2}{\left|m(f_0^a\frac{f_1^a}{3})\right|^2}}\right).$$
(34)
where the $`l=0(+)`$ solution corresponds to the spin waves and the $`l=1()`$ solution corresponds to a new collective spin mode. For small $`q`$ we have the usual Goldstone mode

$$\omega _0(q)=\frac{c_s^2}{\omega _1^+}q^2$$
(35)
and the new mode has the dispersion

$$\omega _1(q)=\omega _1^+\frac{c_s^2}{\omega _1^+}q^2.$$
(36)
Under close examination one finds that to the $`q^2`$ term there is a contribution from the $`l=2`$ spherical harmonics in Eq.(18). Taking that into account gives the full expression for this mode

$$\omega _1(q)=\omega _1^+\left[\frac{c_s^2}{\omega _1^+}+\frac{4N(0)v_F^2}{30m}\left(\frac{3}{F_1^a}+1\right)\right]q^2.$$
(37)
The above equation is valid for $`qv_F<<m|f_1^a|`$. In the limit $`f_1^a0`$ the mode merges with the Stoner continuum and is Landau damped. For $`f_1^a0`$ the mode propagates with a dispersion that depends on the sign of $`f_1^a`$.

It is useful to look at the contribution of this mode to the $`f`$-sum rule. It is known that the spin waves do not satisfy this sum rule. However the spin waves plus the new mode exhaust the $`f`$-sum rule and the spectral weight is shifted from the Stoner excitations to this new mode. To see this we first introduce the dynamic structure function

$$S^{\tau \tau ^{}}(\stackrel{}{q},\omega )=\frac{1}{\pi }Im\chi ^{\tau \tau ^{}}(\stackrel{}{q},\omega )\theta (\omega ),$$
(38)
where $`\chi (\stackrel{}{q},\omega )`$ is the dynamic spin susceptibility obtained from the kinetic equation by noting that $`\chi =\frac{\delta \sigma }{\delta }`$. Here $`\theta (\omega )`$ is the step function. From the expression for the dynamic structure function, calculated from the kinetic equation Eq.(13), we can derive the f-sum rule for the transverse dynamic spin response function, $`S^+(\stackrel{}{q},\omega )`$. This is given by

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑\omega \omega S^+(\stackrel{}{q},\omega )=(1+\frac{F_1^a}{3})\frac{nq^2}{2m^{}},$$
(39)
where $`n`$ is the total density and $`m^{}`$ is the effective mass. This has the same form as the one obtained for the spin dynamic structure function in the paramagnetic phase.

This sum rule is not exhausted by the Goldstone mode alone. If we now include the new mode at zero temperature we have

$$S^+(\stackrel{}{q},\omega )=\alpha _\stackrel{}{q}^+\delta (\omega \omega _0(q))+\beta _\stackrel{}{q}^+\delta (\omega \omega _1(q))$$
(40)
and this exhausts the $`f`$-sum rule, Eq.(33). This is significant, because the spectral weight of the Stoner excitations has been transfered to the two modes, leaving

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑\omega \omega S_{Stoner}^+(\stackrel{}{q},\omega )q^4.$$
(41)
This might be a plausible explanation for the difficulty of the direct observation of the Stoner excitations in a neutron scattering experiments in Fe and Ni since the oscillator strength of these single excitations has been reduced.

The observation of the new mode described in this paper is difficult because it has a small spectral weight at small $`q`$. This follows from the $`q^2`$ dependence of $`\beta _\stackrel{}{q}^+`$ term in Eq.(34). Another obstacle in observing the mode is that it originates from the oscillations of the spin current, which is not a conserved quantity and therefore it is easily damped.

In conclusion, in this paper we described a new collective mode in weak ferromagnetic metals in the quantum spin hydrodynamic regime. While our calculations are for small moment itinerant ferromagnets this mode will exist in other ferromagnetic metals in which the moment is not small. In that case the calculations are significantly more involved. This new mode should exist as well in local moment ferromagnets. Mathematically this can be seen if one relaxes the condition used by Halperin and Hohenberg that the partial time derivative of the spin current is zero. This as well as a calculation of this mode at finite temperature we leave for a future publication.

We would like to thank A. Balatsky, A. Bishop, R. Cowley, P.B. Littlewood, R. McQeeney, J.L. Smith, and S. Trugman, for the fruitful discussions. P. Petkova participated at the early developments of this paper and we would like to thank her for the discussions during that period. K.S. Bedell would like to thank the Aspen Center for Theoretical Physics where some of the ideas developed in this paper were born. This work was supported by the DOE Grant DEFG0297ER45636.