Continuum states of the Dirac equation are calculated numerically for the electrostatic field generated by the charge distribution of an atomic nucleus. The behavior of the wave functions of an incoming electron with a given asymptotic momentum in the nuclear region is discussed in detail and the results are compared to different approximations used in the data analysis for quasielastic electron scattering off medium and highly charged nuclei. It is found that most of the approximations provide an accurate description of the electron wave functions in the range of electron energies above 100 MeV typically used in experiments for quasielastic electron scattering off nuclei only near the center of the nucleus. It is therefore necessary that the properties of exact wave functions are investigated in detail in order to obtain reliable results in the data analysis of quasielastic (e, e ′ p) knockout reactions or inclusive quasielastic (e, e ′ ) scattering. Detailed arguments are given that the effective momentum approximation with a fitted potential parameter is a viable method for a simplified treatment of Coulomb corrections for certain kinematical regions used in experiments. Numerical calculations performed within the framework of the single particle shell model for nucleons lead to the conclusion that our results are incompatible with calculations performed about a decade ago, where exact electron wave functions were used in order to calculate Coulomb corrections in distorted wave Born approximation. A discussion of the exact solutions of the Dirac equation for free electrons in a Coulomb field generated by a point-like charge and some details relevant for the numerical calculations are given in the appendix.

We show how the widely used concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking can be explained in causal perturbation theory by introducing a perturbative version of quantum gauge invariance. Perturbative gauge invariance, formulated exclusively by means of asymptotic fields, is discussed for the simple example of Abelian U (1) gauge theory (Abelian Higgs model). Our findings are relevant for the electroweak theory, as pointed out elsewhere.PACS. 11.10 -Field theory, 12.20 -Models of electromagnetic interactions.

The very strong electromagnetic fields present in ultraperipheral relativistic heavy ion collisions lead to important higher order effects of the electromagnetic interaction. These multiphoton exchange processes are studied using perturbation theory and the sudden or Glauber approximation. In many important cases, the multiphoton amplitudes factorize into independent single-photon amplitudes. These amplitudes have a common impact parameter vector, which induces correlations between the amplitudes. Impact-parameter dependent equivalent-photon spectra for simultaneous excitation are calculated, as well as, impact-parameter dependent γγluminosities. Excitations, like the multiphonon giant dipole resonances, vector meson production and multiple e + e − pair production can be treated analytically in a bosonic model, analogous to the emission of soft photons in QED.

A recent construction of the electroweak theory, based on perturbative quantum gauge invariance alone, is extended to the case of more generations of fermions with arbitrary mixing. The conditions implied by second order gauge invariance lead to an isolated solution for the fermionic couplings in agreement with the standard model. Third order gauge invariance determines the Higgs potential. The resulting massive gauge theory is manifestly gauge invariant, after construction.

A concise discussion of spin-1/2 field equations with a special focus on Majorana spinors is presented. The Majorana formalism which describes massive neutral fermions by the help of two-component or four-component spinors is of fundamental importance for the understanding of mathematical aspects of supersymmetric and other extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, which may play an increasingly important role at the beginning of the LHC era. The interplay between the two-component and the four-component formalism is highlighted in an introductory way. Majorana particles are predicted both by grand unified theories, in which these particles are neutrinos, and by supersymmetric theories, in which they are photinos, gluinos and other states