ISOSPIN–SPIN INTERCHANGE SYMMETRY AND TWO-BARYON BOUND STATES IN (3+1)-DIMENSIONAL LATTICE QCD WITH TWO-FLAVORS AND STRONG COUPLING

We determine two-baryon bound states in a 3+1 lattice QCD model with improved Wilson action and two flavors. We work in the strong coupling regime: small hopping parameter κ > 0 and much smaller plaquette coupling β > 0. In this regime, it is known that the low-lying energy–momentum spectrum is comprised of baryons and mesons with asymptotic masses -3 ln κ and -2 ln κ, respectively. We show that the dominant baryon–baryon interaction is an order κ2 space-range-one -exchange potential. We also show that this interaction has an important and novel isospin–spin interchange symmetry relating the various possible bound states, and then governing the two-baryon spectral structure. Letting S(I) denote the total spin (total isospin) of the two-baryon bound states, S, I = 0, 1, 2, 3, we find bound states with asymptotic binding energy κ2/4, for I+S = 1, 3, and 4 (here, with I = S = 2); κ2/12, for I+S = 0, 2, 4 and 3 (here, with I = 1, 2). In particular, we show that the two-baryon spectrum contains deuteron (I = 0), diproton (I = 1) and dineutron (I = 1)-like bound states. Using the isospin–spin symmetry, we can circumvent the lack of spin symmetry of the lattice action and show they all have the same asymptotic binding energy, namely κ2/4. Our analysis uses convenient two and four-baryon correlations, their spectral representations and a lattice Bethe–Salpeter equation, which is solved in a ladder approximation. For the isospin, spin part of the interaction, we obtain a permanent representation which describes the interaction of the individual spins and isospins of the quarks of one baryon with those of the other baryon.