We present a new high-quality nucleon-nucleon potential with explicit charge dependence and charge asymmetry, which we designate Argonne v 18 . The model has a charge-independent part with fourteen operator components that is an updated version of the Argonne v 14 potential. Three additional chargedependent and one charge-asymmetric operators are added, along with a complete electromagnetic interaction. The potential has been fit directly to the Nijmegen pp and np scattering data base, low-energy nn scattering parameters, and deuteron binding energy. With 40 adjustable parameters it gives a 1 χ 2 per datum of 1.09 for 4301 pp and np data in the range 0-350 MeV.

We present an updated version (Nijm93) of the Nijmegen soft-core potential, which gives a much better description of the np data than the older version (Nijm78). The χ 2 per datum is 1.87. The configuration-space and momentum-space versions of this potential are exactly equivalent; a unique feature among meson-theoretical potentials. We also present three new NN potential models: a non-local Reid-like Nijmegen potential (Nijm I), a local version (Nijm II), and an updated regularized version (Reid93) of the Reid soft-core potential. These three potentials all have a nearly optimal χ 2 per datum and can therefore be considered as alternative partial-wave analyses. All potentials contain the proper charge-dependent one-pion-exchange tail.

We present a multienergy partial-wave analysis of all NN scattering data below T lab = 350 MeV, published in a regular physics journal between 1955 and 1992. After careful examination, our final database consists of 1787 pp and 2514 np scattering data. Our fit to these data results in χ 2 /N df = 1.08, with N df = 3945 the total number of degrees of freedom. All phase shifts and mixing parameters can be determined accurately.

SU(3) symmetry relations on the recently constructed hyperon-nucleon potentials are used to develop potential models for all possible baryon-baryon interaction channels. The main focus is on the interaction channels with total strangeness S = −2, −3, and −4, for which no experimental data exist yet. The potential models for these channels are based on SU(3) extensions of potential models for the S = 0 and S = −1 sectors, which are fitted to experimental data. Although the SU(3) symmetry is not taken to be exact, the S = 0 and S = −1 sectors still provide the necessary constraints to fix all free parameters. The potentials for the S = −2, −3, and −4 sectors, therefore, do not contain any additional free parameters, which makes them the first models of this kind. Various properties of the potentials are illustrated by giving results for scattering lengths, bound states, and total cross sections.