Chiral quark model with relativistic kinematics

The non-strange baryon spectrum is studied within a three-body model that incorporates relativistic kinematics. We found that the combined effect of relativistic kinematics together with the pion exchange between quarks is able to reverse the order of the first positive- and negative-parity nucleon excited states as observed experimentally. Including the chiral partner of the pion (the $\sigma$ meson) leads to an overall good description of the spectrum.