- #1
FredMadison
- 47
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Hi!
I am currently taking a first course in QFT with Peskin & Schroeder's book. I've got stuck with the equation that relates the differential decay rate of a particle A at rest into a set of final particles with the invariant matrix element M of the process. M can be found from the Feynman rules.
The equation is:
[tex]d\Gamma = \frac{1}{2m_A}\left(\prod_f \frac{d^3 p_f}{(2\pi)^3}\frac{1}{2E_f}\right) |M(m_A \rightarrow \{p_f\})|^2 (2\pi)^4 \delta^{(4)}(p_A-\sum p_f)[/tex]
where
[tex]\Gamma[/tex] is the decay rate
[tex]m_A[/tex] is the rest energy of the initial particle A
[tex]p_A[/tex] is the momentum of the initial particle A
[tex]E_f[/tex] is the energy of one of the final particles
[tex]p_f[/tex] is the momentum of one of the final particles
In my problem, 1 particle decays into 2, so we get 2 factors with one integral each when integrating both sides to find [tex]\Gamma[/tex]. I feel kinda unsure on how to treat the delta function since it is four-dimensional and the integrals over p are three-dimensional. It's clear that the delta function imposes momentum conservation, but how to integrate?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I am currently taking a first course in QFT with Peskin & Schroeder's book. I've got stuck with the equation that relates the differential decay rate of a particle A at rest into a set of final particles with the invariant matrix element M of the process. M can be found from the Feynman rules.
The equation is:
[tex]d\Gamma = \frac{1}{2m_A}\left(\prod_f \frac{d^3 p_f}{(2\pi)^3}\frac{1}{2E_f}\right) |M(m_A \rightarrow \{p_f\})|^2 (2\pi)^4 \delta^{(4)}(p_A-\sum p_f)[/tex]
where
[tex]\Gamma[/tex] is the decay rate
[tex]m_A[/tex] is the rest energy of the initial particle A
[tex]p_A[/tex] is the momentum of the initial particle A
[tex]E_f[/tex] is the energy of one of the final particles
[tex]p_f[/tex] is the momentum of one of the final particles
In my problem, 1 particle decays into 2, so we get 2 factors with one integral each when integrating both sides to find [tex]\Gamma[/tex]. I feel kinda unsure on how to treat the delta function since it is four-dimensional and the integrals over p are three-dimensional. It's clear that the delta function imposes momentum conservation, but how to integrate?
Any help is greatly appreciated.