On shell and off shell simultaneously?

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In summary, the conversation discusses a one loop virtual correction in the deep inelastic scattering (DIS) process. The question raised is whether to use an on shell or off shell fermionic quark propagator in the loop integral when evaluating the hadronic tensor. It is suggested that the off shell fermion propagator is necessary and would require a mass counterterm to cancel the UV pole. It is also mentioned that this diagram can be cancelled with the UV counterterm inserted onto the external leg.
  • #1
CAF123
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I am considering the following one loop virtual correction in the DIS process.

OpgEl.png


where I have a quark of momentum ##p## coming in, emitting a gluon before interacting with a photon of momentum ##q## to produce a fermionic propagator with momentum ##p+q##. My question is, in the red box, I have an on shell initial or final state quark ##p^2=0## but in the green box I have an off shell fermionic quark propagator ##p^2 \neq 0##.

So, in my equations, in particular upon evaluation of the loop integral $$\int d^D l \frac{\text{Tr}( \not p \gamma^{\nu} (\not p + \not q) \dots)}{p^2 (p+q)^2 (p-l)^2}$$ where the denominators are all off shell terms, in simplifying the numerator (the trace results in dot products of all the momenta scales in the problem) would I use ##p^2=0## or ##p^2 \neq 0##?
 
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  • #2
p should be the same as p, I don't see how it could be off-shell if the gluon is connected as in the diagram.
 
  • #3
mfb said:
p should be the same as p, I don't see how it could be off-shell if the gluon is connected as in the diagram.

I should have maybe drawn it with a cut through the propagator p+q. I want to compute the hadronic tensor for this diagram which is the discontinuity of the forward scattering process I showed. Does that make more sense in the set up?
 
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  • #4
This diagram, is the 1PI insertion onto the external leg.

Normally, the approach is to renormalise the wave functions in the on shell scheme.

In this set up, this diagram is canceled with that of the UV counterterm inserted onto this leg exactly.

In which case, you never need to calculate this diagram ever.

You would have to consider this gluon type attachment in the internal propagator. This would be off-shell, and would require the mass counterterm (the CT for a fermion propagator) to cancel the UV pole.
 
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Related to On shell and off shell simultaneously?

1. What is the difference between on shell and off shell particles?

The terms "on shell" and "off shell" refer to the properties of a particle in terms of its mass, energy, and momentum. An on shell particle satisfies the equations of motion and is considered to be a physical particle, while an off shell particle does not satisfy these equations and is considered to be virtual.

2. Can a particle be both on shell and off shell simultaneously?

No, a particle cannot be both on shell and off shell at the same time. The properties of a particle can only be described by one of these states at a given time.

3. How do on shell and off shell particles affect the calculation of amplitudes in quantum field theory?

In quantum field theory, on shell particles contribute to the scattering amplitude, while off shell particles do not. This is because only on shell particles satisfy the conservation laws and can be detected in experiments.

4. Is there any physical significance to off shell particles?

Yes, off shell particles play an important role in the calculations of quantum field theory. They are necessary for understanding and predicting the behavior of on shell particles and can also provide insights into the underlying physical processes.

5. How are on shell and off shell particles related to the uncertainty principle?

The uncertainty principle states that there is a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle can be known. In the case of on shell particles, their mass and energy are both well-defined, while for off shell particles, there is a trade-off between the accuracy of their mass and energy measurements. This is due to the fact that off shell particles do not satisfy the equations of motion, and therefore their properties cannot be precisely determined.

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