Effective field theory approach to nuclear matter

The two- and three-nucleon interactions derived in chiral effective field theory at next-to-next-to-leading order are used to obtain the binding energy of nuclear matter. Saturation is found at a binding energy per particle E / A = − 16.2 ± 0.3  MeV and a Fermi momentum k F = 1.30 ± 0.03 fm − 1 , where the uncertainty is due to the cut-off dependence of the two-nucleon interaction. The sensitivity of these values to the three-nucleon force is also studied.