In particle physics, the Breit frame (also known as infinite-momentum frame or IMF) is a
frame of reference
In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system, whose origin (mathematics), origin, orientation (geometry), orientation, and scale (geometry), scale have been specified in physical space. It ...
used to describe
scattering
In physics, scattering is a wide range of physical processes where moving particles or radiation of some form, such as light or sound, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by localized non-uniformities (including particles and radiat ...
experiments of the form , that is experiments in which particle scatters off particle , possibly producing particles
in the process.
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 . The Breit frame is defined as the frame in which . There are different occasions when Breit frame can be useful, e.g., in measuring the electromagnetic form factor of a hadron, is the scattered hadron; while for deep inelastic scattering process, the elastically scattered parton should be considered as . 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
Gregory Breit (, ; July 14, 1899 – September 13, 1981) was an American physicist born in Mykolaiv, Russian Empire (now Mykolaiv, Ukraine). He was a professor at New York University (1929–1934), University of Wisconsin–Madison (1934–194 ...
.
See also
*
Center-of-momentum frame
In physics, the center-of-momentum frame (COM frame) of a system, also known as zero-momentum frame, is the inertial frame in which the total momentum of the system vanishes. It is unique up to velocity, but not origin. The ''center of momentum ...
*
Laboratory frame of reference
References
Frames of reference
Kinematics
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