Accurate nucleon–nucleon potential based upon chiral perturbation theory

We present an accurate nucleon–nucleon (NN) potential based upon chiral effective Lagrangians. The model includes one- and two-pion exchange contributions up to chiral order three. We show that a quantitative fit of the NN D-wave phase shifts requires contact terms (which represent the short range force) of order four. Within this framework, the NN phase shifts below 300 MeV lab. energy and the properties of the deuteron are reproduced with high-precision. This chiral NN potential represents a reliable starting point for testing the chiral effective field theory approach in exact few-nucleon and microscopic nuclear many-body calculations. An important implication of the present work is that the chiral 2π exchange at order four is of crucial interest for future chiral NN potential development.