Resolving the large-Nc nuclear potential puzzle -: art. no. 064003

The large-N-c nuclear potential puzzle arose because three- and higher-meson exchange contributions to the nucleon-nucleon potential did not automatically yield cancellations that make these contributions consistent with the general large-N-c scaling rules for the potential. Here it is proposed that the resolution to this puzzle is that the scaling rules only apply for energy-independent potentials while all of the cases with apparent inconsistencies were for energy-dependent potentials. It is shown explicitly how energy-dependent potentials can have radically different large-N-c behavior than an equivalent energy-independent one. One class of three-meson graphs is computed in which the contribution to the energy-independent potential is consistent with the general large-N-c rules even though the energy-dependent potential is not.