3434 T.

GOLDMAN AND PATRIZIO VINCIARELLI 10

-
*Work supported in p a r t by the U. S. Atomic Energy 's. Weinberg, P h y s . Rev. Lett. 29, 1698 (1972).
Commission. h his consistency problem was noted on the two-loop
?National R e s e a r c h Council of Canada Postdoctoral level by Georgi and Glashow ( s e e Ref. 4). However,
Fellow. the problem already o c c u r s a t the one-loop level. We
or a review see, f o r example, E. S. A b e r s and B. W. thank K. Lane f o r convincing u s of the importance of
Lee, Phys. Rep. E, 1 (1973). the d i a g r a m in Fig. l ( a ) .
'R. Jackiw and K. Johnson, Phys. Rev. D 8, 2386 (1973); ' s . Coleman and E. Weinberg, Phys. Rev. D '7, 1888
J. Cornwall and R. Norton, ibid. 8, 3338 (1973). (1973).
3 ~ Nambu
. and G. Jona-Lasinio, Phys. Rev. 122, 345 '9. R z e ~ u s k i ,Field Theovy, revised English edition
(1961). (Hafner, New York, 1969), Vol. 2.
4 ~ Georgi
. and S. L. Glashow, Phys. Rev. D 2,2457 his i s t r u e f o r all t e r m s not involving vector gauge
(1973); 6, 2977 (1972). m e s o n s o r derivatives, since such t e r m s a r e not
5 ~ Weinberg,
. Phys. Rev. D 5, 1962 (1972). sensitive t o the local c h a r a c t e r of the gauge group.
% . Weinberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2, 388 (1972); R. N. N. Mohapatra, J. Pati, and P. Vinciarelli, Phys.
Mohapatra and P . Vinciarelli, Phys. Rev. D 4, 481 Rev. D 8, 36Fi2 (1973).
(1973). 13p.Vinciarelli, Phys. Rev. D 9, 3456 (1974).

PHYSICAL REVIEW D VOLUME 1 0 , NUMBER 1 0 1 5 NOVEMBER 1974

Modified WKB approximation for phase shifts of an attractive singular potential

S. S. W a l d a n d P. Lu
Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arlzona 85281
(Received 10 June 1974)
The conventional WKB method for phase-shift calculations is known to fail for singular potentials at
low incident energies. The modified WKB method can be applied successfully to singular potentials
even at low energies since it is an extreme generalizat~onof the conventional WKB method. As a
special case, the modified WKB method can be reduced to the conventional WKB approximation and
then agrees with the conventional WKB method in the high-energy region where the conventional WKB
approximation is valid. Unlike the conventional WKB method, the modified WKB method can be
applied to multi-turning-point problems without any difficulty. It is for these reasons that we present
this method for determining the phase shifts of the attractive singular potential using a potential of the
form U ( r )= - g 2 i 4 as an example. We restrict ourselves to the low-energy. nonzero-orbital-angular-
momentum case where there are three classical turning points in order to demonstrate the ability of
this method to handle many turning points. The phase shifts obtained by this method agree with
the numerical results.

I. INTRODUCTION t e n t i a l , nor d o w e i n t e n d to p r o d u c e b e t t e r results

T h e c o n v e n t i o n a l W K B approximations f o r p h a s e -
s h i f t c a l c u l a t i o n s f a i l s at l o w e n e r g i e s , w h i l e
y i e l d i n g a c c u r a t e r e s u l t s at h i g h energies. T h i s
w a s p o i n t e d o u t i n a recent r e v i e w a r t i c l e b y Frank,
L a n d , a n d S p e c t o r i on s i n g u l a r potentials.
Since t h e conventional W K B approximation i s a
s p e c i a l c a s e of t h e more g e n e r a l m o d i f i e d W K B
a p p r o x i m a t i o n , we b e l i e v e t h a t t h e m o d i f i e d W K B
m e t h o d c a n b e a p p l i e d over t h e e n t i r e e n e r g y r a n g e
without being h a m p e r e d by t h e turning-point prob-
l e m s of t h e c o n v e n t i o n a l W K B m e t h o d . W e c h o o s e
to i l l u s t r a t e t h e p r o b l e m by a n attractive Y - ~p o t e n -
t i a l so t h a t c o m p a r i s o n s c a n b e m a d e w i t h t h e exact
results. T h i s is d o n e to v e r i f y t h e a c c u r a c y of t h e
m o d i f i e d W K B m e t h o d in r e g i o n s w h e r e t h e c o n v e n -
t i o n a l W K B a p p r o x i m a t i o n i s k n o w n to f a i l . W e are
not n e c e s s a r i l y c o n f i n i n g o u r s e l v e s to s u c h a po-
t h a n t h e e x i s t i n g ones. W e s e l e c t e d t h e - Y - ~po-
t e n t i a l b e c a u s e of t h e a v a i l a b i l i t y of t h e exact re-
s u l t s . T h e m o d i f i c a t i o n of t h e W K B m e t h o d , i n
o r d e r to d e a l w i t h m a n y t u r n i n g p o i n t s over a l l
energies, is our m a i n c o n c e r n .
I n o r d e r to a v o i d t h e s i n g u l a r i t y at t h e o r i g i n ,
a s i m p l e truncation i s introduced such that,
w h e r e 8 i s t h e u n i t - s t e p f u n c t i o n a n d g2> 0.
T h e modified W K B method2 approaches t h e prob-
l e m by formulating a model potential qualitatively
similar to t h e a c t u a l p o t e n t i a l a n d w h o s e S c h r o -
dinger equation c a n b e solved exactly. Using t h e
e x a c t s o l u t i o n s a s t h e b a s e s of t h e approximation,
one c a n o b t a i n a n a p p r o x i m a t i o n of t h e w a v e f u n c -
tions f o r t h e actual potential. T h e differences
-
10 MODIFIED WKB APPROXIMATION FOR PHASE SHIFTS O F ... 3435

between model and actual potential a r e then treated considering the case for small d, where the po-
a s a WKB-type perturbation. The reader i s r e - tential energy i s f a r greater than the total energy
f e r r e d to Ref. 2 for details. Lu and Measure3 ex- and hence $(Y)i s practically zero. Setting x = k r
tended this method to the three-dimensional scat- and P2 =g2m/K2, we obtain the dimensionless form
tering case and removed an apparent divergence
from the higher-order t e r m s . However, in order
to remove the divergence, another divergence i s
introduced at the maxima (and/or minima) of the
potential which imposes conditions on the path of
where
integration. Even so, this method was used to ob-
tain excellent phase-shift results for the repulsive
Y - ~potential4' (where there i s only one classical
turning point and hence no maxima o r minima) and
to the barrier-penetration problem6 (where the
method was limited to energies above the b a r r i e r ) .
However, this method cannot be applied to the
attractive Y - ~case (since there a r e three classical
turning points and a maxima a s well) unless the
divergence at the maxima i s removed. We recently and
developed a method of removing this divergence
which allows the inclusion of the higher-order
t e r m s and obtained the transmission coefficients The classical turning points correspond to the
for the one-dimensional single-barrier-penetration condition Pl(x) = 0, and since kr 3 0, we obtain (see
p r ~ b l e m .The~ reader i s referred to Ref. 7 for Fig. 1)
details. By incorporating the singular integration
method developed in Ref. 7 into the general mod-
ified WKB theory, the modified WKB approximation
i s valid even at low energies where there may be
many turning points. We now extend this method
to the solution of the three-dimensional problem
here.
Pk
We choose our model potential a s shown in Fig. Xmax =011/2 .
2; namely, a linearly increasing potential between
a hard core and a centrifugal b a r r i e r . The slope We now construct our model problem a s follows:
of this potential and i t s turning points will be de-
termined by the conditions of the actual potential.
We r e s t r i c t ourselves to the low-energy case (for
I +O), where there a r e three turning points in the
problem. The results of the phase-shift calcula-
tion agree with the numerical resultsQ a s presented
in Tables I and 11.
In the beginning of Sec. I1 we present the model
problem. It i s exactly solvable, and it contains
three turning points. In Sec. I1 B the zeroth-order
approximation in ti2 i s discussed. The equations
a r e basically simple. However, in Sec. IIC, a s
we consider the first-order approximation in A2,
we see that the formulas grow longer. It i s further
complicated a s we use the method of singular in-
tegration by parts. However, we see that the
principle involved i s very straightforward indeed.

11. SOLUTION OF THE LOW-ENERGY

SCATTERING PROBLEM
'max
Since we r e s t r i c t ourselves to the low-energy FIG. 1 . Ueff = - [ ( ~ k ) ~ /Bx( x~ -] k d ) + 2 a / x 2 , where 6' i s
region and I +O, we can simplify the problem by the unit-step function.
3436 S . S . WALD AND P . L U

where "eff (')

I 1

and
co for S-iS,,

a s +b for s, G s G s,, (7)

2a /s2 for s '- s, .
The turning points a r e designated s,, s,, and s3,
respectively (see Fig. 2 ) . From the condition
P,(s,) = O and the condition that the potential be the
same at s2we obtain FIG. 2. The model potential as given by Eq. (7).

-
b = (sZ3 2as4)/[ sZ2(s2 s,)] - (8b) and y,, y, a r e the values of y at s, and s,, respec-
tively.
and from the condition P2(s3)= 0, we obtain
s, = (2a )'I2 . ( 8 ~ A. The phase-shift connection formula
The points s,, s,, and s, will be specified by the
conditions of the problem later. Now the solution of Eqs. (1) and (5) must be of
The solutions of Eq. (5) a r e a s follows: the form

$(s) = O , for s c s, (9a)

@ ( s )=c,Ai(y) +c,Bi(y), for s, s s -i s2 (9b)

-
@(s)= s A cos6,[ J, (s) rl, (s)tan6,], for s s,
s o that the phase shifts of the model problem a r e
(9c related to the phase shifts of the actual problem by
where 6, = 6, t lim ( s - x) . (15)
x-'0
S --
By equating the logarithmic derivatives a t the B. The zeroth-order approximation
boundaries s, and s,, respectively, we eliminate
the constants c,, c,, A and obtain To zeroth order in W ', the model problem is
connected to the actual problem by (see Refs. 2
and 8)

where
The path of integration may be subdivided and Eq.
(16) becomes

1; ~ , ( x ) d +xi L:max ~ P , ( x ) d x + Pi ,~( x~) I~d x + i x P l ( x ) d x =i : 4 ~ 2 ( s ) d si i ~ s 2 ~ ~ , ( s ) ~ d s

max 3 4
-
10 M O D I F I E D W K B A P P R O X I M A T I O N FOR P H A S E S H I F T S O F . . . 3437

where P;(x) and PZ2(s)a r e negative in the range C. The first -order approximation
x2 6 x 6 x3 and s 4 s c s,, respectively. By equating
r e a l and imaginary parts, we obtain To first order in ti2, we obtain (see Ref. 3)

and
where the contour i s taken from m- i s around the

iXmax
2 max
ls2
l ~ , ( x ) l d x + i '~~ ~ ( x ) d x = IP2(s)lds
4
lowest turning point back out to m+ic. Making r e -
peated use of the integration by parts

Eq. (21) becomes

Now Eqs. (18) and (19) a r e satisfied by the follow-
ing conditions:

where

While the divergences at the turning points have

been removed, a divergence at t t = O has been

'
max
I Pl(x) I d x = i:3I
PZ(s) Ids
introduced if we convert the contour integrals into
the ordinary definite ones. Using the method
developed in Ref. 7 we convert the contour inte-
grals in Eq. (23) to definite integrals, subdivide
Thus Eqs. (20b), (20c), and (20d) specify points the intervals along the path of integration (which
s,, s,, and s4 to zeroth order in ti2 while Eq. (20a) isolates the divergence), and after repeated inte-
gives us the lim, ,:, ,,(s -
x) t e r m in Eq. (15). gration by parts, Eq. (23) becomes

I:' i + &)i:3~2ds+
P 2 d s + i 1 4 s 2 U 2 d s +(1 (I+ &) L:&ds

= lx2
I
+ [l G(tl)] tl1I2dx+ i [ I + G(U,)I U , I / ~d x + i lxmax+'2+
max - E I
,/2dx+ ilzx
+E2
[ I G(U,)I U , I / ~d x

- 'ma,+

max-El
€2
+
U"
d x + i x [ l +G(t,)l tlu2 d x .
3
(25)

Notice that in Eq. (25) P, =iEUZ1I2,where U, i s choices of E , and E, a r e a r b i t r a r y insofar a s they

positive in the interval between s4 and s, a s well
a s between s, and s,. On the right-hand side of
Eq. (25) we s e e that P1=iRUl1I2,where U, i s pos-
itive between x2 and x,. We have applied integra-
tion by p a r t s several times to Eq. (25) mainly to
avoid the singularity where U,' = 0 at x = xm, . The
a r e different from zero and a r e positive. The
final results shows that they a r e independent of
these choices.
Repeating the procedure used in the zeroth-or-
d e r approximation, we equate r e a l and imaginary
parts and obtain Eqs. (30) and (31), where
3438 S . S . WALD AND P . L U

i E ( a s + b-1)112, for s4 s s 6 s2
(26) [f, for x 2 < x s x 3
iR -+w-1]
x4
112

(28)

(29)
for s1 S s Q S 2
( 0, (27) and
a = i [ Z ( l + l ) ],

1"1
L)ls
p2ds + ( I + 1 6 a P,& =Jx2
I1
[ l + ~ ( t ,f )l l~/ ~d x + ( ' [ l +G(t,)]tll/' d x
'3
(30)

and
XrnaxfEz X3
l ' u 2 d s +(I + & ) l Z s 3
4
u,& = ~ x m a x -+G(u,)]
X2
el[l ~ , ' ~ ~ d r +
L a x - € 1
u,"~d x +
+Lax+ c2
[ l + G ( U l ) Ju,''~d x

+ii[($+-
yj
+)
112

+ 1 -gl
2u1?i;/2] Xmax
Xma~-~l
+ €2 +maxi. €2
max
U "
*dx. (31)

Now Eqs. ( 3 0 ) and ( 3 1 ) a r e satisfied b y the following conditions:

[l 1'
+A] 3
p2& = j'[ I + ~ ( l , )t1li2
+3
] dx, (32)

and

TABLE I. Phase shifts 6, f o r 1 = 2 and various p k . (a) Modified WKB approximation to zeroth order in tiZ; (b)modi-
fied WKB approximation to f i r s t o r d e r in ti2; (c) exact results.
10
- MODIFIED WKB APPROXIMATION FOR PHASE SHIFTS O F . . . 3439

u
(1 + ) i,: u2lt2dS= I,max + E z
max u1lt2dx u1 - +)
+A[(q u1
"2

ull12 +
U,"

Thus E q s . (33), (34), and (35) specify t h e points s,, s,, and s, to first o r d e r i n E2 and Eq. (32) (with s o m e
modification) gives u s the limx+,~,+,(s - x) t e r m i n Eq. (15).
F o r x z x3 and s 3 s3, we substitute Eqs. (26) and (28) into Eq. (32) and obtain

where 111. DlSCUSSION

In dealing with the three-dimensional attractive

singular potential problem, we have r e s t r i c t e d
ourselves t o t h e low-energy range where t h e r e
Setting y = l/x, Eq. (36) becomes
a r e t h r e e turning points. Our main concern is t o
develop and extend the modified WKB method t o
the point w h e r e it can be applied successfully to
multi-turning-point problems. F o r t h i s reason,
we limited ourselves t o phase-shift calculations
in o r d e r t o c o m p a r e results. Since t h e model-
problem wave function is related t o the actual-
problem wave function by
where

[[I +G(t,)][l
H, = sliS3 - 2 a g 2+ ( ~ k ) ~ y ~ l ~ ~ ~
11% we c a n obtain $(x) without any difficulty.

TABLE 11. Phase shifts 6, for 1 = 3 and various p k .

(a) Modified WI<B approximation to zeroth order in t i 2 ;
Thus we obtain (b) modified WKB approximation to first order in E';
(c) exact results.
16ff(H1+ H,)
l i m (S - x) =
x-- 1+ 1 6 a
P/d = 3.6 P/d =4.0
pk (a) @) (c) (a) (b) (c)

where

The r e s u l t s obtained by t h i s method a r e presented

in Tables I and II.
3440 S. S . WALD AND P. LU

'w. M. Frank, D. J. Land, and R. M. Spector, Rev. Mod. 6 ~ S.

. Wald and P . Lu, Phys. Rev. D 2, 895 (1974).
Phys. 43, 36 (1971). IS. S. Wald and P. Lu, Phys. Rev. D 9, 2254 (1974).
's. C . Miller, J r . , and R. H. Good, J r . , Phys. Rev. 91, 8 ~ S.
. Wald and P . Lu, Nuovo Cimento Lett. 5, 423
1 7 4 (1953). (1973).
3 ~ LU . and E. &I.Measure, Phys. Rev. D 5, 2514 (1972). 'R. 0. Berger, H. B. Snodgrass, and L. Spruch, Phys.
.IP. Lu and S. S. Wald, J . Math. Phys. 2, 646 (1972). Rev. 185,1 1 3 (1969).
5 ~ Lu . and S. S. Wald, Phys. Rev. D 8, 4371 (1973).

PHYSICAL REVIEW D VOLUME 1 0 , NUMBER 1 0 1 5 NOVEMBER 1 9 7 4

Electron-electron scattering. 11. Helicity cross sections for positron-electron scattering*

L e s t e r L. DeRaad, J r .
Depavtment of P h y s i c s , C ~ z i v e v s i t yof Calzfovnia, L o s A n g e l e s , Culifovniu 90024

Yee J a c k Ngl
Depavtment 0-f Phjisics, H u w a v d Lrnivevsity, C a m b r i d g e , ~ W a s s u c h u s e t t s021.38
(Received 1 August 1974)

The differential c r o s s sections f o r polarized electron-positron scattering a r e calculated to

order e 6 by using the five invariant amplitudes presented in a previous paper. The unpolarized
result of Polovin i s rederived. As an application of the helicity amplitudes the spin-momentum
correlation f o r a polarized target positron i s obtained in agreement with Fronsdal and Jaksic.

I. INTRODUCTION dixes A and B contain the integrals necessary f o r

the calculations of Sec. I11 while the invariant a m -
The differential c r o s s section f o r unpolarized plitudes a r e given in Appendix C.
electron-electron scattering, to o r d e r e6, was
calculated f i r s t by Redhead' and l a t e r by Polovin.'
11. HELICITY AMPLITUDES
T h e spin-momentum correlation in electron-posi-
t r o n scattering in which the spin of only one of the T h i s section i s devoted to calculating the helicity
particles is detected was calculated by Fronsdal amplitudes in t e r m s of the invariant amplitudes.
and J a k s i c . However, the g e n e r a l polarization This is done by applying Eq. (174) to a n appropriate
c a s e has not been previously derived. helicity state. (Here I r e f e r s to equations in paper
In a n e a r l i e r paper4 (called p a p e r I), the five in- I.) The two basic s t r u c t u r e s encountered a r e
variant amplitudes w e r e obtained i n s p e c t r a l form.
Here, we will apply these invariant amplitudes to
calculate the helicity amplitudes f o r electron-pos-
itron scattering. (The corresponding r e s u l t s f o r
electron-electron scattering will be presented in a
subsequent communication.) Because of the infra-
r e d nzture of charged-particle scattering, we will and
consider neither near-threshold nor forward s c a t -
tering. However, t h e s e kinematical regions a r e
c o r r e c t l y described in the results of paper I, in
t e r m s of a fictitious photon m a s s . This detailed
s t r u c t u r e cannot be measured directly and would
be significant only in the application of the s p e c t r a l
f o r m s to higher-order calculation^.^ F o r convenience, w_e will work in the cente5-of-
We p r e s e n t the helicity amplitudes in t e r m s of m a s s s y s t e m with P, in the z direction and P I in
the invariant amplitudes in Sec. 11, and the explicit the x-z plane:
f o r m s i n Sec. 111. In Sec. W , we consider soft-
photon contributions. The unpolarized differential
c r o s s section is calculated i n Sec. V and the spin- An explicit representation f o r the Dirac spinor i n
momentum correlation is found in Sec. VI. Appen- t e r m s of the helicity i s 6