The nucleon-nucleon potential is analyzed using the ${1/N}_c$ expansion of QCD. The $\mathrm{NN}$ potential is shown to have an expansion in ${1/N}_c^2,$ and the strengths of the leading order central, spin-orbit, tensor, and quadratic spin-orbit forces (including isospin dependence) are determined. Comparison with a successful phenomenological potential (Nijmegen) shows that the large-$N_c$ analysis explains many of the qualitative features observed in the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The ${1/N}_c$ expansion implies an effective Wigner supermultiplet symmetry for light nuclei. Results for baryons containing strange quarks are presented in an appendix.

• Received 11 December 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.56.76