Relativistic correction to order (1/c2) of the ground state of the deuteron

The two body problem with spin 1/2 can be formulated straightforwardly in relativistic quantum mechanics. The resulting matrix equation can be decomposed in two submatrices and we can use one of them to eliminate two of the wave function components in terms of the other two. The resulting two by two matrix equation can in turn be decomposed in two parts and use one of them to reduce the Hamiltonian of the wave equation to a single component. Decomposing the resulting Hamiltonian up to terms of order (1/c2) we obtain the relativistic correction and apply it to study the spectrum of the deuteron, assuming the masses of proton and neutron to be equal. (Author)