CM frame (we choose to be in z-direction):
Cross sections and decay rates
based on S-11
Particle physics experiments typically measure cross sections and decay rates.
Kinematics of a scattering process:
there is only one free initial parameter .
However it is convenient to define:
which is Lorentz invariant; in the CM frame it is equal to
center-of-mass energy squared
particles can have different mass
then we find:
two convenient frames:
center-of-mass, or CM frame:
fixed target, or FT frame (lab frame):
123 124
Mandelstam variables:
they satisfy:
the scattering matrix element in can be simply written as:
finally instead of , it is convenient to define a Lorentz scalar:
125 126
Fixed target frame: Formula for the differential scattering cross section:
we assume the experiment is taking place in a big box of volume V, and lasts for a
large time T (we should be thinking about colliding wave packets but we will simplify
the discussion somewhat, for more precise treatment see e.g. Peskin and Schroeder)
probability for 1,2 1,2...,n is:
in this case from we have:
norm of a single particle state is:
thus we have:
comparing it with the result in the CM frame,
we find
probability per unit time
127 128
finally to get the cross section we should divide by the incident flux:
this is the probability per unit time to scatter into a set of outgoing
particles with precise momenta. cross section x incident flux = Probability per unit time
we should sum over each momenta in a small range;
due to the box we have: = the number of particles per unit volume that are striking the target particle
vector with integer entries times their speed (easy to evaluate in the FT frame):
we have one particle in V with speed and so the incident flux is
in the limit of large L we have: thus in the CM frame (using and ) we find:
thus we should consider: where we defined the n-body Lorentz-invariant phase-space measure:
129 130
Two outgoing particles:
Lorentz invariant, we can compute it in any frame,
it is convenient to work in the CM frame:
differential solid angle
can be evaluated using
in our case f(x)=0 for
thus we have:
131 132
Total cross section: the number of identical
outgoing particles of type i
symmetry factor
dLIPS treats outgoing particles
as an ordered list of momenta
For two outgoing particles we have:
or, in a frame independent form:
or, equivalently: correspond to and .
in general, depends on both s and and so
the formula is more complicated than in the CM frame
133 134
Lets get back to the scattering process in theory we considered: Lets get back to the scattering process in theory we considered:
In the CM frame: all masses equal In the CM frame: all masses equal
we obtain as a complicated function of s and . we obtain as a complicated function of s and .
In the nonrelativistic limit, or : In the extreme relativistic limit, or :
differential cross section almost isotropic. diff. cross section sharply peaked in the forward and backward directions.
135 136
Lets get back to the scattering process in theory we considered:
integrating over t (for fixed s) we can calculate the cross section:
In the nonrelativistic limit, or :
correspond to and .
In the extreme relativistic limit, or :
we get:
137 138
Formula for the differential decay rate:
we assume that the LSZ formula is valid for a single particle that can decay
following the derivation of :
with the only difference being:
identifying with gives:
In the CM frame ; in other frames, the relative factor
accounts for relativistic time dilation of the decay rate.
Finally, a total decay rate:
139
