Effect of Nucleon Dressing on the Triton Binding Energy

The effect of nucleon dressing by pions, on the binding energy of three nucleons interacting via two-body forces, is calculated for the first time within a conventional nuclear physics approach. It is found that the dressing increases the binding energy of the triton by an amount approximately in the range from 0.3 MeV to 0.9 MeV, depending on the model used for dressing. This suggests that nucleon dressing may help explain the underestimation of the triton binding energy in previous calculations using only two-nucleon forces.