Coherent state formulation of pion radiation from nucleon antinucleon annihilation

Abstract

We assume that nucleon antinucleon annihilation is a fast process leading to a classical coherent pion pulse. We develop the quantum description of such pion waves based on the method of coherent states. We study the consequences of such a description for averages of charge types and moments of distributions of pion momenta with iso-spin and four-momentum conservation taken into account. We briefly discuss the applicability of our method to annihilation at rest, where we find agreement with experiment, and suggest other avenues for its use.