Numerical integration of one-loop Feynman diagrams for N-photon amplitudes

In the calculation of cross sections for infrared-safe observables in high energy collisions at next-to-leading order, one approach is to perform all of the integrations, including the virtual loop integration numerically. One would use a subtraction scheme that removes infrared and collinear divergences from the integrand in a style similar to that used for real emission graphs. Then one would perform the loop integration by Monte Carlo integration along with the integrations over final state momenta. In this paper, we have explored how one can perform the numerical integration. We have studied the N-photon scattering amplitude with a massless electron loop in order to have a case with a singular integrand that is not, however, so singular as to require the subtractions. We report results for N = 4, N = 5 with left-handed couplings, and N=6.Comment: 30 pages including 5 figures. This is a revised version that is close to the published versio

Scattering of Dirac and Majorana Fermions off Domain Walls

We investigate the interaction of fermions having both Dirac and left-handed and right-handed Majorana mass terms with vacuum domain walls. By solving the equations of motion in thin-wall approximation, we calculate the reflection and transmission coefficients for the scattering of fermions off walls.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, some typos corrected, one reference added, major revisions, title changed, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Massless Three Dimensional Quantum Electrodynamics and Thirring Model Constrained by Large Flavor Number

We explicitly prove that in three dimensional massless quantum electrodynamics at finite temperature, zero density and large number of flavors the number of infrared degrees of freedom is never larger than the corresponding number of ultraviolet. Such a result, strongly dependent on the asymptotic freedom of the theory, is reversed in three dimensional Thirring model due to the positive derivative of its running coupling constant

EFFECTS OF SHADOWING IN DOUBLE POMERON EXCHANGE PROCESSES

The effects of shadowing in double Pomeron exchange processes are investigated within an eikonal approach with a Gaussian input. Damping factors due to screening are calculated for this process and compared with the factors obtained for total, elastic and single diffraction cross sections. Our main conclusion is that counting rate calculations, of various double Pomeron exchange processes (without screening corrections) such as heavy quark and Higgs production are reduced by a factor of 5 in the LHC energy range, when screening corrections are applied.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 5 figures obtainable from author

On the controversy concerning the definition of quark and gluon angular momentum

A major controversy has arisen in QCD as to how to split the total angular momentum into separate quark and gluon contributions, and as to whether the gluon angular momentum can itself be split, in a gauge invariant way, into a spin and orbital part. Several authors have proposed various answers to these questions and offered a variety of different expressions for the relevant operators. I argue that none of these is acceptable and suggest that the canonical expression for the momentum and angular momentum operators is the correct and physically meaningful one. It is then an inescapable fact that the gluon angular momentum operator cannot, in general, be split in a gauge invariant way into a spin and orbital part. However, the projection of the gluon spin onto its direction of motion i.e. its helicity is gauge invariant and is measured in deep inelastic scattering on nucleons. The Ji sum rule, relating the quark angular momentum to generalized parton distributions, though not based on the canonical operators, is shown to be correct, if interpreted with due care. I also draw attention to several interesting aspects of QED and QCD, which, to the best of my knowledge, are not commented upon in the standard textbooks on Field Theory.Comment: 41 pages; Some incorrect statements have been rectified and a detailed discussion has been added concerning the momentum carried by quarks and the Ji sum rule for the angular momentu

The Lamb shift contribution of very light millicharged particles

The leading order vacuum polarization contribution of very light millicharged fermions and scalar (spin-0) particles with charge \epsilon e and mass \mu to the Lamb shift of the hydrogen atom is shown to imply universal, i.e. \mu-independent, upper bounds on \epsilon: \epsilon \lsim 10^{-4} for \mu \lsim 1 keV in the case of fermions, and for scalars this bound is increased by a factor of 2. This is in contrast to expectations based on the commonly used approximation to the Uehling potential relevant only for conventionally large fermion (and scalar) masses.Comment: 10 pages including 3 figures, version to appear in Physical Review D (Rapid Communications

Heavy-Light Wavefunctions in Lattice QCD

Using a multistate smearing method, Coulomb gauge wave functions of heavy-light mesons are studied in lattice QCD. Wave functions for the ground state, the first radially excited S-wave state, and the lowest P-wave states of a heavy-light meson are calculated in quenched approximation. The results are found to be in remarkably good agreement with the predictions of a simple relativistic quark model.Comment: Latex file inputs psfig.tex, and espcrc2.sty, 3 figures in uuencoded fil

The generalized Fenyes-Nelson model for free scalar field theory

The generalized Fenyes--Nelson model of quantum mechanics is applied to the free scalar field. The resulting Markov field is equivalent to the Euclidean Markov field with the times scaled by a common factor which depends on the diffusion parameter. This result is consistent between Guerra's earlier work on stochastic quantization of scalar fields. It suggests a deep connection between Euclidean field theory and the stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics. The question of Lorentz covariance is also discussed.Comment: 6 page

Chiral Anomalies via Classical and Quantum Functional Methods

In the quantum path integral formulation of a field theory model an anomaly arises when the functional measure is not invariant under a symmetry transformation of the Lagrangian. In this paper, generalizing previous work done on the point particle, we show that even at the classical level we can give a path integral formulation for any field theory model. Since classical mechanics cannot be affected by anomalies, the measure of the classical path integral of a field theory must be invariant under the symmetry. The classical path integral measure contains the fields of the quantum one plus some extra auxiliary ones. So, at the classical level, there must be a sort of "cancellation" of the quantum anomaly between the original fields and the auxiliary ones. In this paper we prove in detail how this occurs for the chiral anomaly.Comment: 26 pages, Latex, misprint fixed, a dedication include

Decoherence in QED at finite temperature

We consider a wave packet of a charged particle passing through a cavity filled with photons at temperature T and investigate its localization and interference properties. It is shown that the wave packet becomes localized and the interference disappears with an exponential speed after a sufficiently long path through the cavity.Comment: Latex, 10 page