Breit frame explained

In particle physics, the Breit frame (also known as infinite-momentum frame or IMF) is a frame of reference used to describe scattering experiments of the form

A + B → A + \sum C _{i} , that is experiments in which particle A scatters off particle B, possibly producing particles C _{i} in the process.^[1] The frame is defined so that the particle A has its momentum reversed in the scattering process.

Another way of understanding the Breit frame is to look at the elastic scattering

A + \gamma → A' . The Breit frame is defined as the frame in which \vec{p} _{A+\vec{p}} _{A'} =0 . There are different occasions when Breit frame can be useful, e.g., in measuring the electromagnetic form factor of a hadron, A is the scattered hadron; while for deep inelastic scattering process, the elastically scattered parton should be considered as A . It is only in the latter case the Breit frame gets related to infinite-momentum frame.

It is named after the American physicist Gregory Breit.^[2]

See also

• Center-of-momentum frame
• Laboratory frame of reference

Notes and References

1. Book: Griffiths, David . David J. Griffiths

   . David J. Griffiths . 1987 . Introduction to elementary particles . Wiley . New York . 978-0-471-60386-3 . 102.

2. Book: Hughes, Vernon . Iachello . Francesco. Kusnezov. Dimitri. The Gregory Breit Centennial Symposium: Yale University, USA . World Scientific . Singapore River Edge, N.J . 2001 . 978-981-02-4553-5 . 9.