Lecture Note II

Quantum Mechanics II
(Scattering theory)
PHY 4025
MSc 4th semester
Dr. Sanjeev Kalita
Department of Physics, GU
Email: sanjeev@gauhati.ac.in

Partial wave analysis and the hard sphere:

We have learnt how the partial wave analysis can be used to calculate the exact
scattering cross section for all possible value of angular momenta of the
scattered waves. We also learnt that cross section is dependent on the phase
shift which in turn depends on the l value. We will now calculate cross section
for some classical type targets. One of such is the hard sphere.

A hard sphere is defined as

V (r )   for r<R 1(a)

V(r) =0 for r>R 1(b)

If Rl(kr) is the radial wave function for angular momentum l it is clear that

Rl (kr)  0 for r<R (2)

For r>R, Rl (kr) can be written as linear combination of the spherical Bessel
function jl (kr) and the Neumann function nl (kr) . With proper choice of the
coefficients we can write the exterior (r>R) wave function as

Rl (kr)  cos l jl (kr)  sin  l nl (kr) (3)

In the asymptotic limit, r   Bessel and Neumann functions take the forms

1  l 
jl (kr)  sin kr  
kr  2
(4)
1  l 
nl (kr)   cos kr  
kr  2

Substituting (4) in (3) we get

1  l 
Rl (kr)  sin kr    l  (5)
kr  2 

Let us now use the continuity condition for the radial wave function,

Rl (kr)(r  R) r R
0 (6)

It gives
jl ( KR ) cos l  sin  l nl ( KR )
jl (kR) (7)
 tan  l 
nl (kR)

For low energy approximation, kR0 the Bessel and Neumann functions are
written as

(kR) l
jl (kR) 
(2l  1)!!
(8)
(2l  1)!!
nl (kR)  
(kR) l 1
The double factorial is defined in the following ways

n!! n(n  2)........ 5.3.1 if n>0 and odd (9)

n!! n(n  2)........ 6.4.2 if n>0 and even (10)

n!! 1 , if n= - 1 , 0 (11)

2 n (n  1 / 2)
(2n  1)!! (12)


Therefore, from the second line of equation (7) we can write,

(kR) 2l 1
tan  l   (13)
(2l  1)!!(2l  1)!!

For s-waves, l=0. Thus by using the definition (11) of the double factorial we
get,

tan  0  (kR)   0 (14)

Assuming that only s-waves are contributing to the cross section we can apply
the formula for total cross section derived earlier and write it as (see equation
(29) of lecture note 1)
4 4
T  2
sin 2  0  2 k 2 R 2  4R 2 (15)
k k

Therefore, low energy scattering cross section for s-waves looks like 4 times the
classical cross section R 2 as if the region of the potential acts likes a circular
disk of radius R. This is a peculiar characteristic of hard sphere potential.

Alternative method:

The radial wave function (see equation (26) of lecture note 1) is given by

Rl (kr) 
1 4
2ikr 2l  1

(2l  1) e 2i l e ikr  (1) l e ikr  (A1)

For s-wave, l=0. Therefore, we can simplify equation (A1) as

 0 (r )
R0 (kr)  (A2),
r
where,  0 (r ) is some function of the radial coordinate.

Now let us recall radial part of Schrodinger wave equation,

1 d  2 dR  2m 2
r  r (V  E )  l (l  1) (A3)
R dr  dr   2

Breaking into parts we get it as

2 dR d 2 R 2m 2m l (l  1)
 2  2 VR  2 ER  R0 (A4)
r dr dr   r2

We identify R as R0 given by equation (A2). Substituting (A2) in (A4) we get

the following simple differential equation for  0

 d2 l (l  1)  2mV
 2  k 2    0  2  0 (A5)
 dr r  

For r>R, where the potential is zero we can write (A5) for s-wave as

d 2 0
2
 k 2 0  0 (A6)
dr

This has a harmonic solution

 0 (r )  sin(kr   0 ) (A7)

Applying the continuity condition at the boundary r=R we get

 0 ( R) r  R  0   0 ( R) r  R (A8)

Thus (A7) implies,

sin(kR   0 )  0 (A9)

Solutions of equation (A9) are given by

kR   0  n
(A10)
  0  n  kR

Therefore,

sin 0  sin(n  kR)  (1) n1 sin kR (A11)

The total cross section for s-waves is then

 4 4
T  2
sin 2  0  2 sin 2 (kR) (A12) (by using equation (A11))
k k

For low energy kR0 so that (A12) implies

 T  4R 2 (A13)

This is exactly the same relation we obtained by the previous method.