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Second order formalism for spin (1/2) fermions and Compton scattering

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
; ;  [1]
  1. Departamento de Fisica, Universidad de Guanajuato, Lomas del Bosque 103, Fraccionamiento Lomas del Campestre, C.P. 37150, Leon, Guanajuato (Mexico)
We develop a second order formalism for massive spin 1/2 fermions based on the projection over Poincare invariant subspaces in the ((1/2),0)+(0,(1/2)) representation of the homogeneous Lorentz group. Using the U(1){sub em} gauge principle we obtain a second order description for the electromagnetic interactions of a spin 1/2 fermion with two free parameters, the gyromagnetic factor g and a parameter {xi} related to odd-parity Lorentz structures. We calculate Compton scattering in this formalism. In the particular case g=2, {xi}=0, and for states with well-defined parity, we recover Dirac results. In general, we find the correct classical limit and a finite value r{sub c}{sup 2} for the forward differential cross section, independent of the photon energy and of the value of the parameters g and {xi}. The differential cross section vanishes at high energies for all g, {xi} except in the forward direction. The total cross section at high energies vanishes only for g=2, {xi}=0. We argue that this formalism is more convenient than Dirac theory in the description of low energy electromagnetic properties of baryons and illustrate the point with the proton case.
OSTI ID:
21537695
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 83; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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