Short-range three-nucleon forces and low-energy constants -: art. no. 034008

The 3N forces due to pi-rho,pi-sigma, and pi-omega exchanges following from the nucleon Born diagrams and diagrams with an intermediate N-*(1440) are reanalyzed. The cancellation between pi-sigma and pi-omega forces is rather sensitive to the values of the coupling constants and to the form of the piNN vertex. Experimental uncertainties in the parameters of the Tucson-Melbourne pi-pi potential are assessed. They lead to uncertainties in theoretical predictions of the triton binding energy of about +/-0.4 MeV. The low-energy limit of pi-sigma and pi-omega potentials is performed. It defines the coupling constants of effective contact piNNNN vertices, which are compared with the corresponding contact vertices of chiral perturbation theory.