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Quantum Monte Carlo Studies of Relativistic Effects in Light Nuclei

Relativistic Hamiltonians are defined as the sum of relativistic one-body kinetic energy, two- and three-body potentials and their boost corrections. In this work we use the variational Monte Carlo method to study two kinds of relativistic effects in the binding energy of 3H and 4He. The first is due to the nonlocalities in the relativistic kinetic energy and relativistic one-pion exchange potential (OPEP), and the second is from boost interaction. The OPEP contribution is reduced by about 15% by the relativistic nonlocality, which may also have significant effects on pion exchange currents. However, almost all of this reduction is canceled by changes in the kinetic energy and other interaction terms, and the total effect of the nonlocalities on the binding energy is very small. The boost interactions, on the other hand, give repulsive contributions of 0.4 (1.9) MeV in 3H (4He) and account for 37% of the phenomenological part of the three-nucleon interaction needed in the nonrelativistic Hamiltonians.