Binding Energy of the Triton

A variational calculation was made of the binding energy of the triton using the same two-body nuclear force law that was used by Brueckner and Gammel and assuming that there are no specifically many-body forces. After varying some 40 parameters, a ground-state energy of less than --10 Mev was obtained for the triton and a value of 3.2 x 10/sup -13/ cm was found for the Coulomb radius. These values disagreed with the experimental values of --8.49 Mev and 2.26 x 10/sup -13/ cm, respectively. It was concluded that the combination of the Gammel-Brueckner potential with the assumption of superposition of two-body forces is inconsistent with the experimental data on the tniton. (M.C.G.)