Radiative corrections to lepton-lepton scattering revisited

Abstract

We calculate in closed analytical form the one-loop radiative corrections to electron-electron scattering e-e- to e-e-. Explicit expressions (in terms of dimensionless Mandelstam variables) are given for the pertinent interference terms between the tree diagrams and the one-loop diagrams. Infrared finiteness of these virtual radiative corrections is achieved (in the standard way) by including soft photon radiation below an energy cut-off. We evaluate the remaining finite part of the soft photon correction factor in the center-of-mass frame. These results can be also utilized for Bhabha scattering e-e_s16 to e-e_s16 and for elastic muon scattering mu-mu-_s16 to mu-mu-_s16. Furthermore, we calculate in the same way the one-loop radiative corrections to the scattering of unequal leptons e-mu- to e-mu- and apply them likewise to the muon pair production process e-e_s16 to mu_s16mu-. In contrast to most other calculations of these radiative corrections we keep the full dependence on the lepton masses. Effects from hard photon radiation which are also important for a direct comparison with (a specific) experiment are not treated explicitly.