Radiative Corrections top+p→l++l−+``Anything''and Application to Muon-Electron Symmetry

Abstract

Radiative corrections, to order $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, are carried out to the lepton lines in the process $p+p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{l}^{+}+{l}^{\ensuremath{-}}+``\mathrm{anything}''$. Expressions are derived which relate the radiative corrections, due to the emission of soft photons, and of hard photons from the lepton lines, to the observed cross section for production of electron or muon pairs. These expressions are used to predict the difference, based purely on electromagnetic interactions, between the cross sections for production of electron and muon pairs. As a specific example, computations are done using the BNL data for production of lepton pairs in hadron-hadron collisions.