Trinucleon wave functions from separable expansions of the N-N interaction

This work is intended to determine whether a separable expansion for the N-N interaction can be used to obtain trinucleon wave functions of high quality. The expansions used in the study are the Unitary Pole expansion of Harms, Afnan and Read, and the expansion of Adhikari and Sloan. We first compare the calculation of the RSC potential Triton binding energy with the two methods, and find that the results agree quite closely. However, while it is found necessary to use t-matrix perturbation theory to obtain the UPE result, such is not the case with the ASE, thus offering a considerable improvement on the previously used method. We then proceed to calculate the L-S coupling probabilities for the wave function, and in so doing, discover a source of inaccuracy in the work of other authors. We also find that the UPE and ASE give probabilities in good agreement with one another. The calculation of the He3 charge form factor turns out to be the most critical judge of the accuracy of the wave function. Although both expansions give quite satisfactory results for the charge form factor, those obtained with the ASE are exceptionally pleasing. We finally apply both methods to the OBEP of Holinde and Machleidt, and find that the UPE is quite unsuitable for such application. The ASE, however, once again gives very good results, indicating the high quality of the trinucleon wave function obtained with it. (author)