Coherent States in High-Energy Physics

Abstract

The amplitude for emitting $n$ bosons factorizes into the product of $n$ single-boson emission amplitudes, if the source is energetic and abelian. If it is energetic but {\it non-abelian}, the amplitude is given by a sum of factorized {\it quasi-particle} amplitudes. A quasi-particle is made up of an arbitrary number of bosons, but couples to the source like a single one. Factorization is related to coherence, and it allows computation of subleading contributions not obtainable by usual means. Its importance is illustrated in two applications: to solve the baryon problem in large-$N_c$ QCD, and to obtain a total cross section satisfying the Froissart bound.

Comments: Talk given at the MRST Meeting in Ottawa, Canada. May 10-12, 1999. 8 pages