Calculations of the trinucleon binding energy using separable potentials having a tensor component in the triplet force and strong repulsion in the singlet force are reported. It is shown that the binding energy remains sensitive to the $N-N$ singlet effective range and that $\left|a_{\mathrm{nn}}\mathrm{}\right|<\mathrm{}\left|\mathrm{}{a}_{\mathrm{pp}}\right|$ can be consistent with the ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ Coulomb energy being less than the binding energy difference between ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{H}$ and ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$ if one has $r_{\mathrm{nn}}<r_{\mathrm{pp}}$. Sensitivity of the binding energy to other differences in the $N-N$ interactions is explored.

NUCLEAR STRUCTURE ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{H}$, ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{He}$, separable potential three-body calculation, tensor triplet, repulsive singlet, charge asymmetry.

• Received 16 December 1974

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.11.1448