YANG-MILLS INSTANTONS AND THE S-MATRIX

We present a scheme for calculating gauge-invariant S-matrix elements in the presence of instantons. We exploit the conformal invariance of the zero-mass field equations. The asymptotic in and out states are defined by their values on null infinity J. We use this method to calculate to lowest-order S-matrix elements for scalar particles and fermions in a dilute gas of SU(2) instantons and anti-instantons. The scalar particles acquire an effective mass and an effective interaction of the form exp(-(ρ{variant}2/16π) φ{symbol}φ{symbol}), where ρ{variant} is the scale of the instanton, plus other interactions which cannot be presented by a local effective lagrangian. The fermions acquire the effective lagrangian obtained by 't Hooft. In the case of a single flavour of fermions, this corresponds to a mass term. © 1979.