Nucleon-nucleon scattering in a chiral constituent quark model - art. no. 034001

We study the nucleon-nucleon interaction in a chiral constituent quark mode l by using the resonating group method, convenient for treating the interac tion between composite particles. The calculated phase shifts for the S-3(1 ) and S-1(0) channels show the presence of a strong repulsive core due to t he combined effect of the quark interchange and the spin-flavor structure o f the effective quark-quark interaction. Such a symmetry structure stems fr om the pseudoscalar meson exchange between the quarks and is a consequence of the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry. We perform single and c oupled channel calculations and show the role of coupling of the Delta Delt a and hidden color CC channels on the behavior of the phase shifts.