Bound states for overlap and fixed point actions close to the chiral limit

We study the overlap and the fixed point Dirac operators for massive fermio ns in the two-flavor lattice Schwinger model. The masses of the triplet (pi on) and singlet (eta) bound states are determined down to small fermion mas ses and the mass dependence is compared with various continuum model approx imations. Near the chiral limit, at very small fermion masses the fixed poi nt operator has stability problems, which in this study are dominated by fi nite size effects, however. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.