Relativistic Theory of Few-Body Systems

Abstract

Very significant advances have been made in the relativistic theory of few body systems since I visited Peter Sauer and his group in Hannover in 1983. This talk provides an opportunity to review the progress in this field since then. Different methods for the realtivistic calculation of few nucleon systems are briefly described. As an example, seven relativistic calculations of the deuteron elastic structure functions, $A$, $B$, and $T_{20}$, are compared. The covariant spectator theory, among the more successful and complete of these methods, is described in more detail.