Relativistic effects in a one-nucleon model for proton induced pion production

Abstract

Pion production near threshold is investigated in a simple relativistic one-nucleon model, using the pseudoscalar $\pi N$ interaction operator and four-component wave functions both for the projectile and for the description of bound nucleons. Compared to a purely nonrelativistic treatment, based on the Galilean invariant $\pi N$ interaction, the differential cross section in this model exhibits significant differences, even in the most simple approximation.