Two-pion exchange contributions to the nucleon-nucleon interaction in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory

Abstract

Employing the covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory, we calculate the leading and next-to-leading order two-pion exchange (TPE) contributions to $NN$ interactions up to order $O(p^3)$. We compare the so-obtained $NN$ phase shifts of $2\leq L\leq 6$ and mixing angles of $2\leq J\leq6$ with those obtained in the non-relativistic baryon chiral perturbation theory, which allows us to check the relativistic corrections to the middle-range part of $NN$ interactions. We show that the contributions of relativistic TPE are more moderate than those of the non-relativistic TPE. The relativistic corrections play an important role in F-waves especially the $^3\text{F}_2$ partial wave. Moreover, the relativistic results seem to converge faster than the non-relativistic results in almost all the partial waves studied in the present work, consistent with the studies performed in the one-baryon sector.