Finance

Combinatorics

Physics

Mathematics

Economic growth

Particle physics

Quantum chromodynamics

Statistical physics

Statistics

Order (exchange)

Economics

Nuclear matter

Nucleon

Nuclear physics

Monte Carlo method

Convergence (economics)

Chiral perturbation theory

Saturation (graph theory)

Physical Review Letters

We present an efficient Monte Carlo framework for perturbative calculations of infinite nuclear matter based on chiral two-, three-, and four-nucleon interactions. The method enables the incorporation of all many-body contributions in a straightforward and transparent way, and makes it possible to extract systematic uncertainty estimates by performing order-by-order calculations in the chiral expansion as well as the many-body expansion. The versatility of this new framework is demonstrated by applying it to chiral low-momentum interactions, exhibiting a very good many-body convergence up to fourth order. Following these benchmarks, we explore new chiral interactions up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^3$LO). Remarkably, simultaneous fits to the triton and to saturation properties can be achieved, while all three-nucleon low-energy couplings remain natural. The theoretical uncertainties of nuclear matter are significantly reduced when going from next-to-next-to-leading order to N$^3$LO.

Chiral Interactions up to Next-to-Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order and Nuclear Saturation