Nucleon-nucleon potential in the 1/Nc expansion

The nucleon-nucleon potential is analyzed using the 1/Nc expansion of QCD. The NN potential is shown to have an expansion in 1/Nc², and the strengths of the leading order central, spin-orbit, tensor, and quadratic spin-orbit forces (including isospin dependence) are determined. Comparison with a successful phenomenological potential (Nijmegen) shows that the large-Nc analysis explains many of the qualitative features observed in the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The 1/Nc expansion implies an effective Wigner supermultiplet symmetry for light nuclei. Results for baryons containing strange quarks are presented in an appendix.