The differential cross section for radiative capture of protons by deuterons is calculated using different realistic NN interactions. We compare our results with the available experimental data below Ex = 20 MeV. Excellent agreement is found when taking into account meson exchange currents, dipole and quadrupole contributions, and the full initial state interaction. There is only a small difference between the magnitudes of the cross sections for the different potentials considered. The angular distributions, however, are practically potential independent. PACS numbers(s): 21.45.+v, 25.40.Lw, 27.10.+h The radiative capture of protons by deuterons and the inverse reaction, the photodisintegration of 3 He, have been investigated experimentally and theoretically over the last decades with quite some interest. Despite the various corresponding investigations, the theory is only in rough agreement with experiment, and there are inconsistencies between the data up to 30% in the magnitudes of the cross sections From the theoretical side several attempts have been made to describe the cross sections in this energy region. In the early calculations by Barbour et al. [6] phenomenological interactions were used. It was shown that the final state interaction is quite important, and that the E2 contributions in the electromagnetic interaction are needed in the differential cross section. In the calculations by Gibson and Lehman [7] a more realistic Yamaguchi interaction, but only the E1 components were employed. King et al. [2] performed an effective two-body, direct capture calculation with the initial state being treated as a plane wave, or as a scattering state generated from an optical potential. Fonseca and Lehman [8] calculated the polarization observables A yy and T 20 at the excitation energy E x = 14.75 MeV including only the E1 interaction. A calculation at E x = 15 MeV based on realistic interactions and both, the E1 and E2 contributions has been done by Ishikawa and Sasakawa [9]. Another calculation of A yy in this energy region is by Jourdan et al. [10]. It was found in all these investigations that T 20 is independent of the deuteron and the helium D-state probability, whereas A yy shows a weak dependence on these quantities.Very-low-energy radiative capture processes are of considerable astrophysical relevance. The p-d radiative capture, which at such energies is almost entirely a magnetic dipole (M1) transition, was studied in plane wave (Born) approximation by Friar et al. [11]. In these investigations the authors employed their configuration-space Faddeev calculations of the helium wave function, with inclusion of three-body forces and pion exchange currents. Various trends, e.g., the correlation between cross sections and helium binding energies, and their potential dependence were pointed out. More recently a rather detailed investigation of such processes has been performed by Viviani et al. [12]. Their calculations employed the quite accurate three-nucleon bound-and continuum states obtained in the ...