Nonperturbative method for treating square root operators in relativistic quantum theories (Q1088395)

Relativistic quantum mechanical equations may require the square root of the kinetic energy operator \((-\Delta +m^ 2)\) for use in finding eigenvalues of the total energy. Numerical methods for computing a discrete spectrum are found by first reformulating in terms of bounded operators and approximating in suitable subspaces. The square roots entailed are of positive symmetric matrices. Strong convergence results are obtained for bounded potential energy functions. Variational methods derived from the formulation and the applicability to Coulomb, Yukawa and confining potentials are also discussed. Numerical results are presented and evaluated for the Coulomb potential and Coulomb plus linear potential. Relativistic corrections for systems of light quarks are obtained.