PHY211 - KT1 Herbstsemester 2023

Prof. Lea Caminada

Exercise Sheet 2
M. Missiroli, A. Reimers Issued: 12.10.2023
Hand in by 10:00 of: 20.10.2023

Exercise 1: (3 points) Feynman diagrams

A Feynman diagram is a graphical representation of the amplitude of a given process that can be used
to calculate the probability of that transition. Consider the following processes. Which of them are
forbidden and why? Draw all lowest-order Feynman diagrams for the allowed processes and mention
which of the fundamental forces dominates each process.

a) p → n e+ νe

b) e+ e− → γγ

c) τ − → udντ

d) νe e → νe e

SOLUTION:

a) p → n e+ νe violates energy conservation because the rest mass of the proton in the initial state
is smaller than the sum of the rest masses in the final state. Since this is a decay of a single
particle, as opposed to a collision of two, this is forbidden.

b) e+ e− → γγ is one decay of positronium and, as we know, allowed. The leading-order Feynman

diagrams are shown in figure 1. The process is occurs via the electromagnetic interaction.

e+ γ
e+
γ

γ
e − γ e −

Figure 1: Lowest-order Feynman diagrams for e+ e− → γγ via the electromagnetic interaction

c) τ → udντ is allowed with the diagrams in figure 2. It is mediated by the weak interaction.

d) νe e → νe e is allowed with the diagrams in figure 3. It is mediated by the weak interaction.

1
 ντ

u
τ

W−

Figure 2: Lowest-order Feynman diagram for τ → udντ via the weak interaction

νe νe νe e
νe e
−
W
Z W
e νe
e e e νe

Figure 3: Lowest-order Feynman diagrams for νe e → νe e via the weak interaction

Exercise 2: (2 points) Collider versus fixed-target experiments

Particle physics experiment are generally designed in one of two possible configurations: fixed target
and collider mode.

Figure 4: Left: Fixed target configuration, right: Collider configuration

They both aim at converting the center of mass energy available in the collision into new particles.
These two configurations differ in the fact that in fixed target mode one of the two colliding particles is
initially at rest, while in collider configuration they collide head-to-head, often with equal energy.
a) For both configurations express the center of mass energy Ecm available in the collision as a
function of the particle momenta, assuming the momenta involved are much larger than the
particle masses. Compare how the centre of mass energy scales with momentum for the two
setups. Which one is more energetically advantageous? Given a center-of-mass energy Ecm =

2
 14 TeV in a proton-proton collision, calculate (1) the energy of each beam in collider mode, and
(2) the energy of the beam in a fixed-target configuration.

b) Cosmic rays hitting the earth’s upper atmosphere can be thought of as natural fixed target
experiments. The flux of cosmic rays has been measured from energies of GeV up to about
1020 eV. Consider a cosmic ray of 1019 eV energy striking a Nitrogen atom in the atmosphere.
Imagine trying to recreate this collision in a collider, assuming beams of equal momentum, how
much momentum would each beam require?

SOLUTION:
q
a) The centre of mass energy is always given by the invariant mass of the full system pµ pµ and in
each case the total momentum of the system is the four momentum of the two colliding particles
pµtot = pµ1 + pµ2 .
For colliding beams with equal and opposite momentum and assume that the masses of the
particles are small compared to the momenta, such that they can be ignored in the calculation.
So we have: p1 = (|p|, p⃗) and p2 = (|p|, −⃗
p)

q
Ecm = (p1 + p2 )2
q q
2 2
= (|p| + |p|) − (⃗
p − p⃗) = (2|p|)2
= 2|p|.

On the other hand, for a fixed target system we again assume that the momentum of the moving
particle is large as compared to its mass, p1 = (|p|, p⃗). However, this is not the case for the fixed
target which has four-momentum p2 = (m, ⃗0).
So we compute the centre of mass energy:

q
Ecm = (p1 + p2 )2 (1)
q
= (m + |p|)2 − p⃗2 (2)
q
= m2 + |p|2 + 2m|p| − p⃗2 (3)
q
= m2 + 2m|p| (4)

Assuming that this is a high energy collision, where p >> m. This simplifies to:

q
Ecm = 2m|p| (5)

The colliding beam experiment scales as E ∼ p, whereas the fixed target experiments scale as
√
E ∼ p. The colliding beam energies are therefore able to reach higher centre of mass energy.
For a pp collision with c.o.m. of 14 TeV, the energy of each beam is 7 TeV in a collider experiment
2
(LHC), and Ecm /2mp = 98000 TeV in a fixed-target experiment.

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 √
b) Using our equation from earlier, we have for the cosmic ray collision Ecm = 2mp, where here
the mass is the mass of a nitrogen atom and the momentum is the momentum of the incoming
cosmic ray.
For a colliding beam experiment with the same center of mass energy we have Ecm = 2p′ where
p′ is the momentum of each of the beams in the experiment.
Therefore:

2p′ = 2mp (6)

p
s
(14amu × eV/amu)(1019 eV)
r
mp
p′ = = (7)
2 2
s
(14 × 1019 eV2 ) × (9.3 × 108 )
= (8)
2
q
= 6.5 × 1028 eV2 (9)
14
= 2.5 × 10 eV = 250TeV (10)

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 Figure 5: Trajectory of a charged particle in a tracking detector immersed in a magnetic field.

Exercise 3: (3 points) Momentum measurement using tracking detectors

In a collider experiment a tracking detector immersed in a solenoidal magnetic field of B = 2 T is

used to measure the momenta of charged particles. The magnetic field is oriented parallel to the beam
axis, i.e. perpendicular to the x–y–plane. The detector consists of two concentric cylindrical layers.
The layers can have arbitrary radii r1 , r2 between rmin = 30 cm and rmax = 100 cm. We assume that
particles originate exactly from the nominal interaction point, and travel perpendicular to the beam
axis, i.e. in the x–y–plane.

a) Considering a particle of charge q and mass m, find the general relationship between the radius
of curvature ρ, the magnetic field strength B, and the particle’s three-momentum p. Give ρ for
electrons with momenta of 10 GeV and 1 TeV in the given magnetic field. How large are the
bending radii for protons with the same momenta?
2
b) Show that the relation between the sagitta s and the momentum p is given by s = qBr 8p . Give
2

the sagitta for electrons with energies of 10 GeV and 1 TeV.

Hint: use the approximation cos(θ/2) ≃ 1 − 21 (θ/2)2 . Explain why this is a valid approximation.

c) Let us assume our detector measures s with a resolution ∆s. Give the dependence of the relative
momentum resolution ∆p/p on B, ∆s, and p itself.

SOLUTION:

a) Again we equate the Lorentz force and the centripetal force, finding

mv 2
= Bqv (11)
ρ
p
⇒ρ= . (12)
Bq

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 We note that ρ depends only on the momentum, but not the mass of the particle. The radii of
curvature are the same for electrons and protons of the same momentum:

ρ(p = 10 GeV) = 16.68 m, (13)

ρ(p = 1 TeV) = 1668 m. (14)

b) From the geometry shown in the sketch, we find:

θ
 
s = ρ − ρ · cos (15)
2
θ
  
= ρ · 1 − cos . (16)
2

Considering that ρ ≫ r2 , we know that θ must be small and we can approximate the cosine as
given in the hint, cos(θ/2) ≃ 1 − 12 (θ/2)2 . We will also use that sin(θ/2) ≃ θ/2.
Looking at the sketch again, we see that r2 = 2ρ sin(θ/2) ≃ ρθ, so we insert:

θ
  
s = ρ · 1 − cos (17)
2
θ2
≃ρ· (18)
8
r22
≃ (19)
8ρ
qBr22
= (20)
8p

Inserting the given momenta, we obtain:

r2 2
 
s(p = 10 GeV) = 7.5 mm · (21)
1m
r2 2
 
s(p = 1 TeV) = 75 µm · (22)
1m
(23)

c) From the previous part, we know that

qBr22 qBr22
s= ⇐⇒ p = . (24)
8p 8s

Using error propagation, we know that

∂p
∆p = ∆s (25)
∂s
qBr22
= ∆s (26)
8s2
∆p 8p ∆s
⇒ = 2 ∆s = . (27)
p qBr2 s

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Exercise 4: (2 points) Mandelstam variables

The scattering cross section for a 2 → 2 process involving massless fermions can be expressed as:

dσ 1
∝ |M|2
dcos θ 4
Where θ is the angle between the beam direction and one of the outgoing particles in the center of mass
(COM) frame, and the matrix element M is the sum over all the possible amplitudes contributing
to the process. The kinematic dependence of the matrix element squared |M|2 for electromagnetic
interactions in different channels is:

• s-channel

1 t2 + u2
|Ms |2 = 32π 2 α2
4 s2
• t-channel

1 s2 + u2
|Mt |2 = 32π 2 α2
4 t2
• u-channel

1 s2 + t2
|Mu |2 = 32π 2 α2
4 u2

Labelling the incoming four momenta as p1 , p2 and the outgoing four momenta as p3 , p4 , the Mandel-
stam variables s, t, and u, are defined as:

s = (p1 + p2 )2
t = (p1 − p3 )2
u = (p1 − p4 )2

a) With the angle between p⃗1 and p⃗3 in the COM frame defined as θ, derive the dependence of the
s-channel and t-channel cross sections on cos θ.

b) Consider electromagnetic processes with two leptons in the initial state and two leptons in the
final state. Name one process which, to leading order, proceeds only through the s-channel and
one process which proceeds only through the t-channel. Draw the diagrams for each case.

SOLUTION:

a) Using the fact that the particles are massless, we can simplify the expression for t and s.

s = (p1 + p2 )2 = p21 + p22 + 2p1 · p2 = 2p1 · p2

t = (p1 − p3 )2 = p21 + p23 − 2p1 · p3 = −2p1 · p3

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 Then writing p = (|⃗ p|, p⃗), again by the massless constraint. And also using p⃗1 = −⃗
p2 and
p1 | = |⃗
E ≡ |⃗ p2 | = |⃗
p3 | = |⃗ p4 | in the centre-of-mass frame we can simplify to:

p|2 + |⃗
s = 2p1 · p2 = 2(|⃗ p|2 ) = (2E)2 (28)
p|2 − p⃗1 · p⃗3 )
t = −2p1 · p3 = −2(|⃗ (29)
2
= −2E (1 − cos θ) (30)
s
= − (1 − cos θ) (31)
2
Using the result for s and simply using p⃗3 = −p⃗4 we get:

u = −2p1 · p4 = −2(E 2 + p⃗1 · p⃗3 ) (32)

s
= − (1 + cos θ) (33)
2
Hence we find for the s-channel:

t2 + u2 0.25s2 (1 − cos θ)2 + 0.25s2 (1 + cos θ)2

=
s2 s2
= 0.25(1 + cos2 θ − 2 cos θ) + 0.25(1 + cos2 θ + 2 cos θ)
= 0.5(1 + cos2 θ)

dσ
∝ (1 + cos2 θ) (34)
d cos θ
and for the t-channel:

s2 + t2 s2 + 0.25s2 (1 + cos θ)2

=
t2 0.25s2 (1 − cos θ)2
1 + 0.25(1 − cos θ)2
=
0.25(1 + cos θ)2
4 + (1 + cos θ)2
=
(1 − cos θ)2
so

dσ 4 + (1 + cos θ)2
∝ (35)
d cos θ (1 − cos θ)2

b) e+ e− → τ + τ − as shown in Figure 6 or any similar diagram where the initial and final state
leptons are different flavours can only proceed through the s-channel.
µ+ e− → µ+ e− as shown in Figure 7 or any similar process. The particles in the final state must
be the same as the particles in the initial state, and the two initial state particles cannot be
identical or each others’ anti-particles.

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 e+

e−
γ
τ−

τ+

Figure 6: e+ e− → τ + τ − feynman diagram, an example of an electromagnetic process with leptons

which can only proceed through the s-channel.

µ+

e−
γ
µ+

e−

Figure 7: µ+ e− → µ+ e− feynman diagram, an example of an electromagnetic process with leptons

which can only proceed through the t-channel.