Some Notes on Multiple-Boson Processes

Methods of calculation with nonlinear functions of quantized boson fields are developed during the discussion of two problems involving multiple boson processes. In the first of these a simple treatment is given of the multiple radiation of photons by classical current distributions, a special case of which, in effect, is the infrared catastrophe. In the second illustration, generalizations of the scalar and pseudoscalar meson theories are considered in which the interaction hamiltonian depends exponentially on the meson field. In the pseudoscalar case such hamiltonians are closely related to the familiar form of pseudovector coupling. Assuming the over-all coupling of the nucleon and meson fields to be weak, calculations are made of the nuclear forces, and of the multiple production of mesons in meson-nucleon and in nucleon-nucleon collisions. In the latter events statistical independence of meson emissions is found to prevail.