A New Theory of Nuclear Forces I. Relativistic Origin of Therepulsive Core

A relativistic, three-dimensional wave equation which restricts one of the two interacting particles to its mass shell is applied to the study of nuclear forces. A very general property of the relativistic nature of this equation is that any dynamical model leads to potentials with repulsive cores. These soft core potentials are evaluated numerically for a simple one particle exchange model limited to the exchange of r, p , w, and a neutral spinless meson. By adjusting four of the parameters we obtain good fits to the Reid soft core potentials, especially in the S states. The couplings obtained are very reasonable, and the results are compared with other recent models. The general features of the theory and the quantitative details of the model are thoroughly discussed. (Submitted to Phys. Rev. ) *On leave from College of William and Mary. Present address: U. S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Washington, D. C. 20451. $Supported by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission.