Relativistic two-body bound states in scalar QFT: variational basis-state approach

We use the Hamiltonian formalism of quantum field theory and the variational basis-state method to derive relativistic coupled-state wave equations for scalar particles interacting via a massive or massless mediating scalar field (the scalar Yukawa model). A variational trial state comprised of two and four Fock-space states is used to derive coupled wave equations for a relativistic two (and four) body system. Approximate, variational two-body ground-state solutions of the relativistic equations are obtained for various strengths of coupling, for both massive and massless mediating fields. The results show that the inclusion of virtual pairs has a large effect on the two-body binding energy at strong coupling. A comparison of the two-body binding energies with other calculations is presented