Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-40/2/iv/solution

The Dirac field has the global symmetry , , while the real scalar is unchanged. Both the free Dirac action and the pseudoscalar Yukawa interaction preserve this symmetry. Therefore Dirac fermion number conservation holds: its charge counts particles minus antiparticles.
The initial state has charge , whereas a final antiparticle and a neutral scalar have charge . Since the S-matrix commutes with that charge,
This holds at every order, not just tree level. In the Feynman rules, a continuous fermion arrow cannot connect these specified external states. Replacing only the outgoing by a in the previous expression would not give a physical amplitude. Changing both external fermions to antiparticles would instead produce an allowed process with reversed fermion flow and the appropriate spinors; moving a leg between initial and final states is a different operation governed by crossing symmetry.

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