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Bhabha Scattering


In quantum electrodynamics, Bhabha scattering is the electron-positron scattering process:

There are two leading-order Feynman diagrams contributing to this interaction: an annihilation process and a scattering process. Bhabha scattering is named after the Indian physicist Homi J. Bhabha.

The Bhabha scattering rate is used as a luminosity monitor in electron-positron colliders.

To leading order, the spin-averaged differential cross section for this process is

where s,t, and u are the Mandelstam variables, is the fine-structure constant, and is the scattering angle.

This cross section is calculated neglecting the electron mass relative to the collision energy and including only the contribution from photon exchange. This is a valid approximation at collision energies small compared to the mass scale of the Z boson, about 91 GeV; at higher energies the contribution from Z boson exchange also becomes important.


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