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Effective interactions between nuclear clusters

The effective interactions between two nuclear clusters, $d+d$, $t+t$, and $α+α$, are investigated within a cluster model using local nucleon-nucleon~($NN$) forces. It is shown that the interaction in the spin-aligned $d+d$ system is repulsive for all inter-cluster distances, whereas the $α+α$ and spin-aligned $t+t$ systems are attractive at intermediate distances. The Pauli blocking between identical-nucleon pairs is responsible for the cluster-cluster repulsion and becomes dominant in the shallow binding limit. We demonstrate that two $d$-clusters could be bound if the $NN$ force has nonzero range and is strong enough to form a deeply bound $d$-cluster, or if the $NN$ force has both even-parity and odd-parity attraction. Effective dimer-dimer interactions for general quantum systems of two-component fermions are also discussed in heavy-light mass limit, where one component is much heavier than the other, and their relation to inter-cluster interactions in nuclear systems are discussed. Our findings provide a conceptual foundation for conclusions obtained numerically in the literature, that increasing the range or strength of the local part of the attractive nucleon-nucleon interaction results in a more attractive cluster-cluster interaction.