Initial and final state radiation Initial and final state radiation In particle physics, initial and final state radiation refers to certain kinds of radiative emissions that are not due to particle annihilation. It is important in experimental and theoretical studies of interactions at particle colliders. Particle accelerators and colliders produce collisions (interactions) of particles (like the electron or the proton). In the terminology of the quantum state, the colliding particles form the "Initial State". In the collision, particles can be annihilated or/and exchanged, producing possibly different sets of particles, the "Final States". The Initial and Final States of the interaction relate through the so-called scattering
Atomic, molecular, and optical physics by photons or collisions with atomic particles. While modelling atoms in isolation may not seem realistic, if one considers molecules in a gas or plasma then the time-scales for molecule-molecule interactions are huge in comparison to the atomic and molecular processes that we are concerned with. This means that the individual molecules can be treated as if each were in isolation for the vast majority of the time. By this consideration atomic and molecular physics provides the underlying theory in plasma physics and atmospheric physics even though both deal with huge numbers of molecules. Electrons form notional shells around the