Tribaryon configurations and the inevitable three nucleon repulsions at short distance

We decompose the tribaryon configuration in terms of SU(3) flavor and spin state and analyze their color-spin-flavor wave function following the Pauli principle. By comparing the color-color and color-spin interactions of compact tribaryon configuration against the lowest three nucleon threshold within a constituent quark model, we show that the three nucleon configurations have to be repulsive at short distance for all possible quantum numbers and all values of the SU(3) symmetry breaking parameter. Our work identifies the origin of the repulsive nuclear three body forces including the hyperons at short distance that are called for from phenomenological considerations starting from nuclear matter to the maximum mass of a neutron star.