Quantum Field Theory – Yukawa Theory by Peskin and Schroeder

hamiltonianhilbert-spacequantum-field-theory

On page 116 of Peskin and Schroeder, the Yukawa theory Hamiltonian is given by

$$H=H_{Dirac}+H_{Klein Gordan}+\int\,d^3x g\overline{\psi}\psi\phi $$

and we are considering the fermionic scattering reaction

fermion($p$)+fermion($k$)$\rightarrow$ fermion($p'$)+fermion($k'$)

I have several questions on this:

  1. What is the Hilbert space here? Are we considering the tensor product of one fermionic fock space and one bosonic fock space?

  2. If 1 is true, then the meaning of $\int\,d^3x g\overline{\psi}\psi\phi$ really is just $\int\,d^3x\,g(\overline{\psi}{\psi})\otimes \phi$?

  3. What role does the scalar field play in fermonic scattering? By including $\phi$, don't we just get an overall constant in the perturbative expansion?

Best Answer

1, 2: Yes. Putting aside issues of whether the Hilbert space of the interacting theory is well-defined, you can think of the Hilbert space here as the tensor product of the two Fock spaces. For example, the noninteracting vacuum is the state with no fermions, antifermions, or bosons.

3: No. Remember that $\phi$ has the capability of creating and annihilating bosonic particles. So the interaction term $\bar{\psi} \psi \phi$, when acting on a Fock state with some number of fermions/bosons, has the ability to implement one of the following processes:

  • annihilate a boson, creating a fermion-antifermion pair,
  • annihilate a fermion-antifermion pair, creating a boson,
  • scatter a fermion or antifermion by emitting or absorbing a boson.
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