Boson-exchange potentials and the nucleon potential energy in nuclear matter

We report a calculation of the nucleon potential energy in nuclear matter based upon a one-boson-exchange potential which is obtained from a fit to the two-nucleon scattering data. We evaluate the potential energy in the Hartree-Fock approximation and also perform a calculation which includes the effects of nucleon-nucleon correlations. We find large correlation corrections and conclude that calculations making use of the Hartree (or Hartree-Fock) approximation require the use of effective coupling constants which differ from those determined in a fit to scattering data. These effective constants would include effects of correlations in an implicit fashion.NUCLEAR STRUCTURE Nucleon potential energy in nuclear matter; one-boson-exchange potential; validity of the Hartree-Fock approximation.