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The Feynman Rules for QED Setting up Amplitudes Casimirs Trick Trace Theorems
Physics 506A
9 - Feynman Rules
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Physics 506A
9 - Feynman Rules
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Photons
A (x) = aeipx (p) Lorentz condition p = 0 orthogonality (2) = 0 (1) normalization = 1 Coulomb gauge 0 = 0 and p = 0 Completeness P s ((s) )i ((s) )j = ij pi pj
Physics 506A
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e , p 1 e+ , p 2
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e , p 1 e+ , p 2 Note that arrows are only present on fermion lines and they represent particle ow, not momentum. Step 3: The amplitude depends on 1. Vertex factors 2. Propagators for internal lines 3. Wavefunctions for external lines
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Vertex Factors
e Every QED vertex,
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Propagators
Each internal photon connects two vertices of the form ige and ige , so we should expect the propagator to contract the indices and . Photon propogator ig q2 Fermion propogator is a bit more complicated i(/ + m) q q 2 m2 The sign of q matters here we take it to be in the same direction as the fermion arrow.
Physics 506A
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External Lines
Since both the vertex factor and the fermion propagators involve 4 4 matrices, but the amplitude must be a scalar, the external line factors must sit on the outside. Work backwards along every fermion line using:
e in u
e out u
e+ in v
e+ out v
in
out
Physics 506A
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Matrix elements I
follow fermion lines backward to give e u(2)ig u(1)
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Matrix elements II
The matrix element is proportional to the two currents in the diagram below. ig [2 (ige )v4 ] v [3 (ige )u1 ] u (p1 p3 )2
e , p 3
e+ , p 4
e , p 1 e+ , p 2
Physics 506A
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And Finally...
Step 4: The overall amplitude is the coherent sum of the individual amplitudes for each diagram: M |M2 | = = M1 + M2 + . . . |M1 + M2 + . . .|2
Step 4a: Antisymmetrization Include a minus sign between diagrams that differ only in the exchange of two identical fermions.
Physics 506A
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Examples
There are only a handful of ways to make tree-level diagrams in QED. Construct amplitudes for Bhabha scattering(e+ e e+ e ) Compton scattering(e e ). Later, we will undertake thorough calculations for Mott scattering (e e ) pair annihilation (e+ e ) fermion pair-production (e+ e f f ).
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e , p 1 e+ , p 2 e , p 1 e+ , p 2
Antisymmetrization M = Mt Ms ig Mt = i [3 (ige )u1 ] u [2 (ige )v4 ] v (p1 p3 )2 ig Ms = i [3 (ige )v4 ] u [2 (ige )u1 ] v (p1 + p2 )2
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e , p 1
, p2
e , p 1
, p2
No antisymmetrization M = M1 + M2 i(/1 /3 + m) p p M1 = i u4 (ige ) (ige )u1 2 3 (p1 p3 )2 m2 i(/1 + /2 + m) p p M2 = i u4 (ige ) (ige )u1 2 3 (p1 + p2 )2 m2
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Polarized Particles
A typical QED amplitude might look something like M [1 v2 ] 3 u The Feynman rules wont take us any further, but to get a number for M we will need to substitute explicit forms for the wavefunctions of the external particles: u1 , v2 , and 3 . If all external particles have a known polarization, this might be a reasonable way to calculate things. More often we are interested in unpolarized particles as few accelerators produce polarized particles In the 1990s the SLC at SLAC produced polarized electron at 50 GeV
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Spin-Averaged Amplitudes
If we do not care about the polarizations of the particles then we need to 1. Average over the polarizations of the initial-state particles 2. Sum over the polarizations of the nal-state particles in the squared amplitude |M|2 . We call this the spin-averaged amplitude and we denote it by |M| D
2
Note that the averaging over initial state polarizations involves summing over all polarizations and then dividing by the number of independent E D polarizations, so |M|2 involves a sum over the polarizations of all external particles.
Physics 506A
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Spin Sums I
Lets simplify things even further and suppose that we have M [1 u2 ] u Then |M|2 [1 u2 ] [1 u2 ] u u i h 0 [1 u2 ] u1 u2 u h i 0 [1 u2 ] u2 u1 u h i 0 0 0 [1 u2 ] u2 u1 u 1 [1 u2 ] u2 u u
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Spin Sums II
Rewriting the squared matrix element |M|2 [1 u2 ] u2 u1 u
[1 Qu1 ] u
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Apply the completeness relation once again, so that we get X |M|2 Tr [Q(/1 + m1 )] p
s1
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Spin Sums IV
Starting from M [1 u2 ] u
Averaging over initial spins and summing over nal spins gives D E 1 2 p1 + m1 ) Tr (/2 + m2 )(/ p |M| 2 Particles 1 and 2 may or may not be in the initial state The factor of 1 is from the averaging over initial spins, assuming exactly one 2 of u1 and u2 corresponds to an initial-state particle. If they are both in the initial state (e.g., pair annihilation), the factor is If neither is in the initial state (e.g., pair production), the factor is 1.
1 . 4
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Casimirs Trick
This procedure of calculating spin-averaged amplitudes in terms of traces is known as Casimirs Trick X p [a 1 ub ] [a 2 ub ] = Tr 1 (/b + mb )2 (/a + ma ) u u p
all spins
If antiparticle spinors (v) are present in the spin sum, we use the corresponding completeness relation X s s vi i vi i = (/i mi ) p
si =1,2
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Traces
Because of Casimirs Trick, were going to nd ourselves calculating a lot of traces involving -matrices. General identities about traces: Tr(A + B) Tr(A) Tr(AB) Tr(ABC) = = = = Tr(A) + Tr(B) Tr(A) Tr(BA) Tr(CAB) = Tr(BCA)
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+g
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Traces With 5
The vertex factor for weak interactions involves 5 . By inspection, Tr( 5 ) = 0. Since 5 = i 0 1 2 3 (an even number of -matrices), Tr( 5 ) Tr( 5 ) = = 0 0
Also, Tr( 5 ) = 0
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The 5 Trace
Only with 4 (or more) other -matrices can we obtain a nonzero trace involving 5 : Tr( 5 ) = 4i where we recall that the antisymmetric tensor is dened as 8 > 1 for even permutations of 0123 > < +1 for odd permutations of 0123 > > : 0 if any 2 indices are the same
Physics 506A
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Example 1
One of the traces involved in Bhabha scattering is T = Tr [ (/1 + m) (/3 + m)] p p
We can expand this out to create 4 terms, but 2 of these terms (the ones linear in m) will involve 3 -matrices, and are therefore zero. Thus, T = = Tr( /1 /3 ) + m2 Tr( ) p p ` 4 p p + p p (p1 p3 )g + 4m2 g 3 1 1 3
This result will be contracted with another trace that is covariant (i.e., as opposed to contravariant ) in and .
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Example 2
Consider A = Tr( /1 /2 ) Tr( /1 /2 ) p p p p
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