The quantum theory of radiation damping

A general method is given of calculating the effect of damping on the collision cross-sections for problems involving free electrons and mesons. The result is expressed in the form of an integral equation which can only be solved if certain simplifying assumptions are made. It is shown that radiation damping has a negligible effect on the scattering of light by free electrons, so that the Klein-Nishina formula is unchanged by the inclusion of damping effects. The effect of damping for mesons, on the other hand, is extremely large and reduces the cross-sections considerably. The main problems considered are the nuclear scattering of mesons and the energy radiated by mesons during collisions. The revised cross-sections are much more reasonable than those calculated previously, but on account of the inadequacy of the data no detailed comparison with the experimental results is possible.