3-BODY CORRELATIONS IN FEW-BODY NUCLEI

A detailed comparison of Faddeev and variational wave functions for H- 3, calculated with realistic nuclear forces, has been made to study th e form of three-body correlations in few-body nuclei. Three new three- body correlations for use in variational wave functions have been iden tified, which substantially reduce the difference with the Faddeev wav e function. The difference between the variational upper bound and the Faddeev binding energy is reduced by half, to typically <2%. These th ree-body correlations also produce a significant lowering of the varia tional binding energy for He-4 and larger nuclei.