A new approach to the LSZ reduction formula

Abstract

Lehmann, Symanzik and Zimmermann (LSZ) proved a theorem showing how to obtain the S-matrix from time-ordered Green functions. Their result, the reduction formula, is fundamental to practical calculations of scattering processes. A known problem is that the operators that they use to create asymptotic states create much else besides the intended particles for a scattering process. In the infinite-time limits appropriate to scattering, the extra contributions only disappear in matrix elements with normalizable states, rather than in the created states themselves, i.e., the infinite-time limits of the LSZ creation operators are weak limits. The extra particles that are created are in a different region of space-time than the intended scattering process. To be able to work with particle creation at non-asymptotic times, e.g., to give a transparent and fully deductive treatment for scattering with long-lived unstable particles, it is necessary to have operators for which the infinite-time limits are strong limits. In this paper, I give an improved method of constructing such operators. I use them to give an improved systematic account of scattering theory in relativistic quantum field theories, including a new proof of the reduction formula. I make explicit calculations to illustrate the problems with the LSZ operators and their solution with the new operators. Not only do these verify the existence of the extra particles created by the LSZ operators and indicate a physical interpretation, but they also show that the extra components are so large that their contribution to the norm of the state is ultra-violet divergent in renormalizable theories. Finally, I discuss the relation of this work to the work of Haag and Ruelle on scattering theory.