Calculation of matrix element for ##e^{+}e##-->##\mu^{+}\mu##

  • Thread starter Thread starter dark_matter_is_neat
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Quantum field theory
dark_matter_is_neat
Messages
34
Reaction score
1
Homework Statement
This is problem 5.4 from Schwartz's QFT and The Standard Model
It for me to calculate the matrix element of ##e^{+}e##-->##\mu^{+}mu## in the ultra relativistic limit in the center of mass frame using circular polarization instead of linear polarization which was done in section 5.3.
Relevant Equations
Setting the ##e^{+}e## axis as the z axis, the initial momentum vectors are:
p1 = (E, 0, 0, E), p2 = (E, 0, 0, -E)
The initial circular polarization vectors should be:
##\epsilon 1 = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(0,1,i,0)## and ##\epsilon 2 = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(0,1,-i,0)##
The final momentum vectors will be at some angle with respect to the z axis, so I will pick for these vectors to be rotated around the x axis by some angle ##\theta##.
So the final momentum vectors are:
p3 = E##(1, 0, sin\theta, cos\theta)## and p4 = E##(1, 0, -sin\theta, -cos\theta)##
The final circular polarization vectors should be the initial polarization vectors operated on by the same rotation so they should be:
##\epsilon 3 = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(0,1,icos\theta,-isin\theta)## and ##\epsilon 4 = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(0, 1, -icos\theta, isin\theta)##
Following the calculation done in section 5.3 of Schwartz's QFT and The Standard Model, the matrix element, M, should have two contributions M1 and M2.
M1=ϵ1ϵ3+ϵ1ϵ4
M2=ϵ2ϵ3+ϵ2ϵ4
However when I do these calculations I get that M1 = M2 = 1, ##|M|^{2} = |M1|^{2} + |M2|^{2} = 1+1 = 2##, which does not match with the result obtained from using linear polarization: ##|M|^{2} = 1+cos^{2}\theta##
I'm not really sure where the calculation is going wrong, this should match with the linear polarization result.
 
Hi, I had an exam and I completely messed up a problem. Especially one part which was necessary for the rest of the problem. Basically, I have a wormhole metric: $$(ds)^2 = -(dt)^2 + (dr)^2 + (r^2 + b^2)( (d\theta)^2 + sin^2 \theta (d\phi)^2 )$$ Where ##b=1## with an orbit only in the equatorial plane. We also know from the question that the orbit must satisfy this relationship: $$\varepsilon = \frac{1}{2} (\frac{dr}{d\tau})^2 + V_{eff}(r)$$ Ultimately, I was tasked to find the initial...
The value of H equals ## 10^{3}## in natural units, According to : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_units, ## t \sim 10^{-21} sec = 10^{21} Hz ##, and since ## \text{GeV} \sim 10^{24} \text{Hz } ##, ## GeV \sim 10^{24} \times 10^{-21} = 10^3 ## in natural units. So is this conversion correct? Also in the above formula, can I convert H to that natural units , since it’s a constant, while keeping k in Hz ?
Back
Top