Relativistic Effects and the Role of Heavy Meson Exchange in Deuteron Photodisintegration

Relativistic effects and the role of heavy meson exchange in deuteron photodisintegration are studied systematically for photon energies below the pion production threshold. In a (p/M)-expansion, all leading order relativistic one-body and pi-exchange as well as all static heavy meson exchange currents consistent with the Bonn OBEPQ model are included. In addition, one- and two-body boost effects have been investigated. Sizeable effects from the various two-body contributions beyond pi-exchange have been found in almost every observable considered, i.e., differential cross section and single polarization observables.