Physical mechanism of the linear beam-size effect at colliders

Abstract

We present qualitative but precise description of the linear beam-size effect predicted for the processes in which unstable but long--living particles collide with each other. We derive physically pronounced equation for the events rate which proves that the linear beam-size effect corresponds to the scattering of one beam of particles on the decay products of the other. We compare this linear beam-size effect with the known logarithmic beam-size effect measured in the experiments on a single bremsstrahlung at VEPP-4 and HERA.