Аннотация:A study is made of the influence of the Coulomb field of a nucleus on a process that also occurs in the absence of interaction with the nucleus. It is shown that the approximation of equivalent photons applies to the interference between the diagram without interaction with the nucleus and the diagram of two-photon exchange with the nucleus, which contributes to the cross section of the process to the same order in the fine structure constant as the square of the diagram of single-photon exchange. As an example, the method of equivalent photons is used to calculate the cross section of the decay π → μ +ν on a nucleus.
Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 7–12, September, 1975.