Correlated $\bbox{\pi \rho}$ Exchange in the $\bbox{NN}$ Interaction

Abstract

We evaluate the contribution to the nucleon-nucleon interaction due to correlated $\pi\rho$ exchange in the $\pi$, $\omega$, and $A_1$/$H_1$ channels by means of dispersion-theoretic methods based on a realistic meson exchange model for the interaction between $\pi$ and $\rho$ mesons. These processes have substantial effects: In the pionic channel it counterbalances the suppression generated by a soft $\pi NN$ form factor of monopole type with a cutoff mass of about 1 GeV; in the $\omega$-channel it provides nearly half of the empirical repulsion, leaving little room for explicit quark-gluon effects.