NONLINEAR MESON THEORIES AND ELECTROMAGNETIC POLARIZABILITY OF THE NUCLEON

We perform a detailed analysis of the electromagnetic polarizabilities of the nucleon in the framework of non-linear meson theories based on chiral symmetry. We present results for models in which the soliton is stabilized using higher derivatives terms, and for models with explicit inclusion of vector mesons. We show that in the latter case a consistent description of the nucleon polarizabilities is obtained. We argue that the electric polarizability as well as the diamagnetic polarizability are dominated by the pionic currents at the nucleon surface. © 1990.