Recent Advances in the Theory of Nuclear Forces and its Impact on Microscopic Nuclear Structure
The theory of nuclear forces has made great progress since the turn of the millenium using the framework of chiral effective field theory (ChEFT). The advantage of this approach, which was originally proposed by Weinberg, is that it has a firm basis in quantum-chromodynamics and allows for quantitative calculations. Moreover, this theory generates two-nucleon forces (2NF) and many-body forces on an equal footing and provides an explanation for the empirically known fact that 2NF >> 3NF >> 4NF. I will present the recent advances in more detail and put them into historical context. In addition, I will also provide a critical evaluation of the progress made including a discussion of the limitations of the ChEFT approach.