English

Probing the three-body force in hadronic systems with specific charge parity

Nuclear Theory 2026-03-27 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

Three-body forces, a type of non-perturbative strong interaction, are widely studied in nuclear physics. However, whether their inclusion is necessary in nuclear systems remains a topic of intense debate. In this letter, we propose that the existence of three-body forces in certain three-body hadronic systems with definite CC-parity is certain. Such systems consist of two components whose interactions are mediated by three-body forces--a mechanism not easily realized in conventional three-nucleon systems. We investigate two specific three-body hadronic systems, DˉsDK\bar{D}_sDK and DˉDη\bar{D}^*D\eta, using contact-range potentials. The two-body hadron-hadron interactions are constrained by reproducing their scattering lengths, while the three-body couplings are constrained by charge symmetry. Our results indicate that three-body forces play a minor role in binding the I(JPC)=0(0)I(J^{PC})=0(0^{--}) DˉsDK\bar{D}_sDK system, but a crucial one in binding the I(JPC)=0(1+)I(J^{PC})=0(1^{-+}) DˉDη\bar{D}^*D\eta system. In fact, three-body forces determine whether DˉDη\bar{D} ^*D\eta forms a bound state, making this system a promising candidate for exploring three-body forces in hadronic physics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.01468,
  title  = {Probing the three-body force in hadronic systems with specific charge parity},
  author = {Ya-Wen Pan and Ming-Zhu Liu and Li-Sheng Geng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.01468},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:03:22.466Z