CHAPTER 11 SCATTERING 11.1 INTRODUCTION | 11.1.1 Classical Scattering Theory i Imagine a particle incident on some scatering center (say, a proton fired at a heavy nucleus). It comes in with energy E and impact parameter b, and it emerges at some scattering angle —see Figure 11.1. ("Il assume for simplicity thatthe ta get is azimuthally symmetrical, s0 the trajectory remains in one plane, and tht the target is very heavy, so the recoil is negligible.) The essential problem of classical scattering theory is this: Given the impact parameter, calculate the scat tering angle. Ordinarily, of course, the smaller the impact parameter, the greater the scattering angle. FIGURE 11.1: The classical scattering problem, showing the impact parameter 6 and the scattering angle @. 394Section 11.1: Introduction 395 FIGURE 11.2: Elastic hard-sphere scattering. Example 11.1 Hard-sphere scattering. Suppose the target is a billiard ball, of radius R, and the incident particle is a BB, which bounces off elastically (Figure 11.2). In terms of the angle a, the impact parameter is b = Rsina, and the scattering angle is @ = — 2a, so bo ran(Z-2) =Roe(2) an _ [reo l/r), fb 1; in optics it would be called the radiation zone). As in one-dimensional scattering theory, we assume that the potential is “localized,” in the sense that exterior to some finite scattering region itis essentially zero (Figure 11.6). Inthe intermediate region (where V can be ignored but the centrifugal term cannot. the radial equation becomes &u_ Wt), gee 1.17) Radiation zone uy) FIGURE 11.6: Scattering from a localized potential: the scattering region (darker shading), the intermediate region (lighter shading) and rhe radiation Zone (where > I). what follows does not apply t the Coulomb potent since 1/r goes to zero more slowly than 1/2, as r-—» co, and the ceaifugal team does nor dominate in this repon. In this sense he Coulomb pote isnt localized, and paris wave analysis inapplicableSection 11.2: Partial Wave Analysis 401 TABLE 11. Spherical Hankel factions fe and BP, teat stole and the general solution (Equation 4.45) is a linear combination of spherical Bessel functions: (7) = Arju(kr) + Bry (kr), (113) However, neither jj (which is somewhat like a sine function) nor my (which is a sort of generalized cosine function) represents an outgoing (or an incoming) wave. ‘What we need are the linear combinations analogous to e!” and e~!*"; these are known as spherical Hankel functions: PCR) = Ge) tim) AP) = fle) — ime). (11.19) ‘The ist few spherical Hankel functions ae listed in Table 11.1 Atarger (kr) (the “Hankel fonction of the frst kind”) goes tke e”/r, whereas he (kr) (the “Hankel function of the second kind”) goes like e~” /r; for outgoing waves, then, we need spherical Hankel functions of the fst lind Ri) ~ A ry 1120) Thus the exact wave function, outside the scattering region (where V(r) = 0), is VOOM =AE ST Cm Aer @.6)}. at) im ‘The fist term isthe incident plane wave, and the sum (with expansion coefficients Ci.m) represents the scattered wave. But since we are assuming the potential is spherically symmetric, the wave function cannot depend on . So only terms with ‘There's nothing wrong with # dependence, ofcourse, because te incoming plane wave defines rection, breaking the spherical symmetry. Bu! the azimuthal symanecy reais the ied pase ‘wave has no # dependence, and there is nothing n the sstring process that could intoduce ty @ dependence in the outgoing wave402 Chapter 11 Scattering ‘m =0 survive (remember, ¥/" ~ e"#). Now (from Equations 4.27 and 4.32) YP. 0) = J ——Piceos), (11.23) where Pi the Ith Legendre polynomial Its customary to redefine the expansion coefficients, letting Co = i! "k/4x IF 1) ay veomafearsiasnanPanncns) | aay = You'll see in a moment why this peculiar notation is convenient; ais called the Ith partial wave amplitude. ‘Now, for very large r the Hankel function goes like (—i)!*¥e!™™/kr Table 11.1), s0 a wr.0) wafer + rot}, 11.24) where Ler + 1a) Picose). (11.25) = £6) ‘This confirms more rigorously the general structure postulated in Equation 11.12, and tells us how to compute the scattering amplitude, (8), in terms of the partial ‘wave amplitudes (aj). The differential cross-section is DG) = IFO)? = D> A+ NAN + Naf ay Pr(cos4) Py(cos8), [11.26] Tor ‘and the total cross-section is 4x et + Y lai? (1.2 ro) (L used the orthogonality of the Legendre polynomials, Equation 4.34, to do the angular integration.) 11.2.2 Strategy Al that remains isto determine the partial wave amplitudes, ay, for the potential in ‘question. This is accomplished by solving the Schrédinger equation inthe ineror region (where V(r) is dstinetly non-zero), and matching this othe exterior solution (Equation 11.23), using the appropriate boundary conditions. The only problem is404 Chapter 11 Scattering In particular, the total cross-section is 11134) ‘That's the exact answer, but it’s not terribly illuminating, so let’s consider the limiting case of low-energy scattering: ka <1, (Since k = 2x/2, this amounts to saying that the wavelength is much greater than the radius of the sphere.) Referring to Table 4.4, we note that mj(z) is much larger than jj(2), for small z, so ine) lulz) (2) APG ~ HO time ~ ‘ne Biel (t+ 1)! i pz the (CET ae et 241 [hie M pai = WHA ac and hence an pany eI os ty [FET aye’ e Lavi lal ae But we're assuming ka < 1, so the higher powers are negligible—in the low ‘energy approximation the scattering is dominated by the ! = 0 term. (This means that the differential cross-section is independent of @, just as it was in the classical case.) Evidently o <4ne?, 111.36) for low energy hard-sphere scattering. Surprisingly, the scattering cross-section is {four times the geometrical cross-section—in fact, o is the foral surface area of the sphere, This “larger effective size” is characteristic of long-wavelength scattering (it would be true in optics, as well) in a sense, these waves “feel” their way around the whole sphere, whereas classical particles only see the head-on cross-section. Problem 11.3 Prove Equation 11.33, starting with Equation 11.32. Hint: Exploit the orthogonality of the Legendre polynomials to show that the coefficients with different values of ! must separately vanish, + *Problem 11.4 Consider the case of low-energy scattering from a spherical delta- function shell: V(r) =ad(r— a), where a and a are constants, Calculate the scattering amplitude, (0), the differ- ential cross-section, D(G), and the total cross-section, . Assume ka < 1, s0 thatSection 11.3: Phase Shifts 405 only the 1 = 0 term contributes significantly. (To simplify matters, throw out all 1-4 0 terms right from the stat.) The main problem, of course, is to determine ‘ao, Express your answer in terms of the dimensionless quantity 6 = 2maa/h? Answer: 0 = 4ma*B*/(1 + By. 11.3 PHASE SHIFTS ——————————————— Consider frst the problem of one-dimensional scattering from a localized potential V(x) on the halfline x < 0 (Figure 11.7). I'l put a “brick wall” at x = 0, soa wave incident from the left, WO) = Ae ( 0). {a) If the incoming wave is Ae (where k = V2mE/h), find the reflected wave, Answer: (ia [i = ik cot'a) Sacra, [OU where &! = /AmCE + VOM. Although I used the asymptotic form ofthe wave fonction to draw the connection between ‘ay ad 8, there is noting approximate about te elt (Equation 11-46). Both of them are constants (independent of 7), and 5 means the phase sit in the asymptoi region (where the Hankel faneons have settled down toe "A,