# Unitarized pion-nucleon scattering within Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory

### A The IAM applied to $`\pi `$-N scattering.

Unitarization is not foreign to effective theories. In fact, Padé approximants with very simple models are enough to describe the main features of $`\pi `$-N scattering . Although a systematic application within an effective Lagrangian approach was called for, it was never carried out.

Customarily , the data are presented in terms of partial waves of definite isospin $`I`$, orbital angular momentum $`L`$ and total angular momentum $`J`$, using the spectroscopic notation $`L_{2I+1,2J+1}`$ (with $`L=S,P`$,…waves). Generically, the HBChPT $`\pi `$-N partial waves, $`t`$, are obtained as a series in the momentum transfer and meson masses. Thus, basically, they are polynomials in the energy and mass variables (as well as logarithms from the loops, which provide the cuts and imaginary parts required by unitarity). Such an expansion will never satisfy the $`\pi `$-N elastic unitarity condition

$$\text{Im}t=q_{cm}|t|^2\text{Im}\frac{1}{t}=q_{cm}\frac{1}{t}=\text{Re}\frac{1}{t}iq_{cm},$$
(1)   
with $`q_{cm}`$ the center of mass momentum of the incoming pion. But HBChPT satisfies unitarity perturbatively, i.e.:

$`\text{Im}t_1=\text{Im}t_2=0;\text{Im}t_3=q_{cm}|t_1|^2,\mathrm{},`$ (2)   
where $`t_k`$ stands for the $`𝒪(q^k)`$ contribution to the amplitude. This is indeed the case in , but not in , where an additional redefinition of the nucleon field allows to eliminate the $`(v)^2/2m`$ terms in the Lagrangian . We have performed an additional $`1/m`$ expansion of the results in  in order to recover a pure expansion satisfying eq.(2). Thus, we count $`q_{cm}`$ and $`M`$ as $`𝒪(ϵ)`$, so that each partial wave reads $`tt_1+t_2+t_3+𝒪(ϵ^4)`$, where the subscript stands for the order $`ϵ`$ of each contribution. We have then checked that eq.(2) is verified.

However, from eq.(1) any unitarity elastic amplitude has exactly the following form:

$$t=\frac{1}{\text{Re}(1/t)iq_{cm}},$$
(3)   
*for physical values of the energy, and below any inelastic threshold*. The problem, of course, is how to obtain Re(1/t). For instance, setting $`\text{Re}(1/t)=|q_{cm}|\text{cot}\delta =\frac{1}{a}+\frac{r_0}{2}q_{cm}^2`$ we reobtain the familiar effective range approximation, whereas by taking $`\text{Re}tt_1`$ we arrive at a Lippmann-Schwinger like equation . A frequent criticism to unitarization is its apparent arbitrariness, although from eq.(3) we see that the difference between two unitarization methods is the way of approximating Re$`(1/t)`$. Since we want to restrict our Lagrangian to include just pions and nucleons preserving the $`SU(2)`$ chiral symmetry, the most general approximation to Re(1/t) is HBChPT. In particular, we will take the $`𝒪(q^3)`$ calculations, but the method can be easily generalized to higher orders. Thus, we arrive at

$$t\frac{t_1^2}{t_1t_2+t_2^2/t_1\text{Re}t_3iq_{cm}t_1^2},$$
(4)   
where we have only kept the relevant order in Re$`[(t_1+t_2+t_3)^1]`$. This is the $`𝒪(q^3)`$ form of the IAM. Note that if we reexpand in powers of $`q`$, we recover at low energies the HBChPT result. However, as it is written, the amplitude explicitly satisfies elastic unitarity. Furthermore, using eq.(2), we can rewrite $`\text{Re}t_3+iq_{cm}t_1^2=t_3`$, which can be analytically continued to the complex plane (where, for instance, we will look for the pole associated to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$). Incidentally, eq.(4) thus rewritten is a Padé approximant of the $`𝒪(q^3)`$ series. From the K matrix point of view, we have identified $`K^1=\text{Re}t^1`$.

Even though the elastic unitarity condition is only satisfied for real values of $`s`$ above threshold, the use of the IAM in the complex plane can be justified using dispersion relations , provided one is not very far from the physical cut. In other regions (around the left cut for instance) the IAM would be inappropriate. As a consequence, it is also possible to reproduce the poles in the second Riemann sheet, which are close to the physical cut and are associated to resonances. As a matter of fact the IAM has been successfully applied to meson-meson scattering . In particular, using the $`𝒪(p^4)`$ ChPT Lagrangian, the IAM generalized to coupled channels yields a remarkable description of all channels up to 1.2 GeV, including seven resonances . Using the Lippmann-Schwinger like equation mentioned above it is also possible to describe the S-wave kaon-nucleon scattering, using the lowest order Lagrangian , including the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$.

Let us then use eq.(4) when $`t`$ are the $`L_{2I+1,2J+1}`$ $`\pi `$-N partial waves. The resulting amplitudes will be fitted to the  phase shifts, which are actually an extrapolation, not including the experimental errors. For the fit we have used the MINUIT Function Minimization and Error Analysis routine from the CERN program Library. As it is customarily done in the literature, we will assign an error to the data in . For instance, in ref. the central points have been given a 3% uncertainty. However, since our fits will cover wide energy ranges, the use of a constant relative error will give more weight to the low energy data. Thus we have also added an additional systematic error of 1 degree. ( A 5% error plus a $`\sqrt{2}`$ systematic error was used in .) This error is needed to use the minimization routine, and, although the order of magnitude may seem appropriate, the values are rather arbitrary, so that the meaning of the $`\chi ^2/d.o.f.`$ obtained from MINUIT has to be interpreted cautiously.

Furthermore, the data near threshold are subject to many uncertainties, so that, also following , we will start our fits at $`\sqrt{s}=`$1130 MeV. Hence the threshold parameters are real predictions in our approach. In addition, we should limit the approach to energies where inelasticities can be neglected. In particular, we will not use our $`P_{11}`$, $`P_{13}`$ and $`P_{31}`$ phase shifts above the $`\pi \pi N`$ threshold ($`\sqrt{s}`$ 1220 MeV), since they are very small and inelasticities could be significant. The $`S_{31}`$ and $`S_{11}`$ phase shifts are larger and we fitted them up to $``$ 1360 MeV. The inelasticities in $`P_{33}`$ are negligible up to 1400 MeV since this channel is dominated by the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ which is strongly coupled to $`\pi `$-N.

#### a The IAM and Resonance Saturation.

Following the suggestion that the $`O(p^2)`$ parameters can be understood from resonance saturation , it is natural to try to make an IAM fit constrained with this hypothesis. Thus, we first fix the $`a_i`$ to the values of , which are compatible with the saturation hypothesis. The resulting $`O(p^3)`$ parameters are given in Table I. In addition, we give in Table I the values for a second fit where we have allowed the $`a_i`$ parameters to vary within the ranges expected from resonance saturation. The results of fit 2 are plotted, as a solid line, in Figure 1. We used “hatted” quantities, $`\widehat{b}_i`$, because their values do not necessarily correspond to those of HBChPT since now they are also absorbing the IAM resummation effects and some high energy information. Only if there was a very good convergence of the theory at low energies the values of $`b_i`$ should be similar to the $`\widehat{b}_i`$ (as it happens in ChPT). Therefore, at present, *our $`\widehat{b}_i`$ should not be used to calculate any other process at low-energies*.

Not surprisingly, there are strong correlations between parameters. Unfortunately, from MINUIT we cannot get the actual form of the correlation. However, looking only at linear combinations with integer coefficients, some of them, like $`\widehat{b}_1+\widehat{b}_2+\widehat{b}_3`$ or $`\widehat{b}_1+\widehat{b}_2+2\widehat{b}_3+\widehat{b}_{16}\widehat{b}_{15}`$, remain within natural sizes for these fits. Nevertheless, as we have commented, there is a considerable uncertainty in the precise values of the $`b_i`$ at present (see Table 2 in ).

In summary, the main conclusion from Figure 1 is that it is possible to obtain an improved description of $`\pi N`$ scattering including the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$, with the $`a_i`$ values obtained from resonance saturation. Note however, that the $`S_{31}`$ phase shift does not have any real improvement. For illustration we also give in Figure 1 the extrapolation of the $`O(q^3)`$ HBChPT results to high energies (dotted line) as well as the IAM result (dashed line), using the $`a_i`$ and $`b_i`$ values in .

#### b Unconstrained IAM fits.

Of course, we can get much better fits (all with $`\chi ^2/d.o.f.<1`$) by leaving all the parameters free. For illustration, see the dashed-dotted line in Figure 1. There are again strong correlations and the actual value of each one of the $`\widehat{a}_i`$ and $`\widehat{b}_i`$ could be extremely unnatural. The correlations now are even more complicated due to the quadratic $`t_2^2`$ term in the denominator of eq.(4). By inspection of the analytic formulas, we find that the $`\widehat{a}_1+\widehat{a}_2`$, $`\widehat{a}_54\widehat{a}_1`$, $`2(\widehat{b}_1+\widehat{b}_2)+(\widehat{b}_{16}\widehat{b}_{15})`$ combinations are the most relevant, and remain rather stable for these fits. However *it is not possible to obtain a meaningful determination of each individual parameter* without any other additional assumption (like resonance saturation). That is again due to the large number of parameters, but also to the slow HBChPT convergence.

#### c The $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ resonance.

The IAM generates dinamically a pole in the second Riemann sheet at $`\sqrt{s}=(1212i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}47})\text{MeV}`$, which is rather stable within all the fits and in very good agreement with the data .

#### d Threshold parameters.

For definitions and notation we refer again to . Our results are shown in Table II, where we have also listed the experimental values, extracted from . As pointed out in  and , the errors for those values are clearly underestimated. Hence, it should be borne in mind that the threshold parameters are not so well determined as it may seem from those errors (see also ). Our fits give a reasonably good agreement with experiment for the $`S`$-wave scattering lengths. For most $`P`$-waves, we agree with the order of magnitude and sign. Our results are also in rough agreement with , where they give: -0.07 GeV<sup>-1</sup> $`a_0^+`$ 0.04 GeV<sup>-1</sup> and 0.6 GeV<sup>-1</sup> $`a_0^{}`$ 0.67 GeV<sup>-1</sup>.

### B Conclusions and discussion

We have unitarized the HBChPT $`𝒪(q^3)`$ $`\pi `$N elastic scattering amplitude with the Inverse Amplitude Method. This approach is able to describe the phase shifts up to the inelastic thresholds and, in addition, it gives the correct pole for the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ in the $`P_{33}`$ channel. Our fits use the extrapolated phase shifts between $`\sqrt{s}=`$ 1130 MeV and the corresponding inelastic thresholds. Within this approach, we can predict the thresholds values, which for the $`S`$ waves are in good agreement with experiment and with recent determinations.

Unfortunately, since there are large correlations between some parameters, it is possible to obtain good fits with very different sets of parameters, which can have rather unphysical values. This is due to different reasons: a) The slow convergence of the series, since contributions from different orders are comparable in almost every partial wave. The effect of higher order terms, which was less relevant at threshold, is absorbed in our case in the values of the chiral coefficients. b) There are strong correlations between the parameters, and the fits are only sensitive to certain combinations. Hence the values of each individual coefficient are meaningless.

The most relevant conclusion of this study is that we can still reproduce the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ with the $`a_i`$ values expected from the resonance saturation hypothesis, keeping a reasonably good description for the other channels.

Finally, we would like to remark that the method developed here can be easily extended to the case of $`SU(3)`$ symmetry as well as to the coupled channel formalism. Further work along these lines is in progress.

## Acknowledgments

Work partially supported by DGICYT under contract AEN97-1693 and PB98-0782. J.R.P. thanks J.A.Oller and E.Oset for useful discussions.