Coulomb effects in low energy proton-proton scattering

Using a recently developed effective field theory for the interactions of n ucleons at non-relativistic energies, we calculate non-perturbatively Coulo mb corrections to proton-proton scattering. Including the dimension-eight d erivative interaction in the PDS regularization scheme, we recover a modifi ed form of the Blatt-Jackson relation between the scattering lengths. The e ffective range receives no corrections from the Coulomb interactions to thi s order. Also the case of scattering in channels where the Coulomb force is attractive, is considered. This is of importance for hadronic atoms. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.