Reaction rates in a relativistic plasma

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Abstract
A general theory of two-body reaction rates in a relativistic plasma is developed. The most notable results of this theory are exact expressions for total rates involving only a single integral over the cross section for the usual case of relativistic Maxwell-Boltzmann or Bose-Einstein momentum distributions. This simplification arises from the fact that in the relativistic as well as the nonrelativistic case, an effective combined-particle distribution function can be found analytically. These results are applied to calculate the rates for radiative Compton scattering, photon-photon pair creation, and pion production in proton-proton collisions.

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