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arXiv:2112.13296 · Journal of Physics Conference Series

Closest approach of a quantum projectile

Ankit Kumar, Tanjung Krisnanda, P. Arumugam, Tomasz Paterek

Published May 1, 2021• 0 citations
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Abstract

Abstract We consider the simplest case of Rutherford scattering, i.e. the head-on collision, where the projectile is treated quantum mechanically. The convexity of repulsive Coulomb force invokes a disagreement between the Ehrenfest’s and Hamilton’s dynamics. We show that the quantum projectile cannot approach as close as the corresponding classical one, and that the average distance of closest approach depends on the position spread of the wave function describing the projectile.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/1850/1/012074

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Abstract We consider the simplest case of Rutherford scattering, i.e. the head-on collision, where the projectile is treated quantum mechanically. The convexity of repulsive Coulomb force invokes a disagreement between the Ehrenfest’s and Hamilton’s dynamics. We show that the quantum projectile cannot approach as close as the corresponding classical one, and that the average distance of closest approach depends on the position spread of the wave function describing the projectile.
Rutherford scattering is usually described by treating the projectile either classically or as quantum mechanical plane waves. Here we treat them as wave packets and study their head-on collisions with the stationary target nuclei. We simulate the quantum dynamics of this one-dimensional system and study deviations of the average quantum solution from the classical one. These deviations are traced back to the convexity properties of Coulomb potential. Finally, we sketch how these theoretical findings could be tested in experiments looking for the onset of nuclear reactions.
The trajectory of motion of a scattering electron in the Coulomb potential from the wave function of the Schroedinger equation is presented in two ways, spherical polar coordinates and Temple coordinates, and is compared with each other and with the corresponding motion of classical mechanics. A good correspondence among dynamics by wave functions and the classical dynamics has been acknowledged by comparing computed examples.Detailed computing examples discriminate the optimal dynamics of the wave function that should be verified by an experiment.
Figure 1.1 represents schematically a typical scattering experiment, in fact this is the sketch of E. Rutherford experiment in 1910 [ 1 ]. Projectiles (here, α -particles) from a source go through a collimator and collide with a target (gold foil in Rutherford’s experiment). Some projectiles are scattered by the target and reach the detector (here, a fluorescent screen). Rutherford expected them to go straight through with perhaps a minor deflection. Most did go straight through, but to his surprise some particles bounced directly off the gold sheet! What did this mean? Rutherford hypothesized that the positive alpha particles had hit a concentrated mass of positive particles, which he termed the nucleus. We shall describe the Rutherford scattering theoretically later in this chapter.
Rutherford classical scattering theory, as its quantum mechanical analogue, is modified for scattering cross-section and the impact parameter by using quantum mechanical momentum, (de Broglie hypothesis), energy relationship for matter oscillator (Einstein’s oscillator) and quantum mechanical wave vectors, and , respectively. It is observed that the quantum mechanical scattering cross-section and the impact parameter depended on inverse square law of quantum action (Planck’s constant). Born approximation is revisited for quantum mechanical scattering. Using Bessel and Neumann asymptotic functions and response of nuclear surface potential barrier, born approximations were modified. The coulombic fields inside the nucleus of the atom are studied for reflection and transmission with corresponding wave vectors, phase shifts and eigenfunctions Bulk quantum mechanical tunneling and reflection scattering, both for ruptured and unruptured nucleus of the atom, are deciphered with corresponding wave vectors, phase shifts and eigenfunction. Similar calculation ware accomplished for quantum surface tunneling and reflection scattering with corresponding wave vectors, phase shifts and eigenfunctions. Such diverse quantum mechanical scattering cross-section with corresponding wave vectors for tunneling and reflection, phase shifts and eigenfunctions will pave a new dimension to understanding the behavior of exchange fields in the nucleus of the atom with insides layers both ruptured and unruptured. Phase shifts, δl for each of the energy profile (partial) will be different and indeed their corresponding wave vectors for exchange energy eigenvalues.
A simple plane wave solution of the Schrödinger–Helmholtz equation is a quantum eigenfunction obeying both energy and linear momentum correspondence principles. Inclusion of the outgoing wave with scattering amplitude f obeys unitarity and the optical theorem. By closely considering the standard asymptotic development of the plane wave, we show that there is a problem with angular momentum when we consider forward scattering at the point of closest approach and at large impact parameter given semiclassically by ( l + 1/2)/ k where l is the azimuthal quantum number and may be large (J Leech et al , Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 257901 (2002)). The problem is resolved via non-uniform, non-standard analysis involving the Heaviside step function, unifying classical, semiclassical and quantum mechanics, and the treatment is extended to the case of pure Coulomb scattering.
Quantum Rutherford scattering and scattering of classical waves off Coulomb-like potentials have similar formal structures and can be studied using the same mathematical techniques. In both contexts, the long-range nature of the interaction leads to a divergent total cross-section, which has been interpreted and regularized in various ways in the past literature. We review in detail the origin of this divergence, in both real and multipole spaces, and show that it arises from incorrectly using approximations out of their domain of validity. We also stress that although classical and quantum Rutherford scattering share the same formalism, the natures of the associated physical observables differ. We comment on the role of interference: while interference can be safely neglected in a quantum context (due to the fact that the observable quantity is a flux, and the incoming flux is collimated), in a classical context one expects to see a superposition of transmitted and scattered waves in a broad region downstream of the target, hence a cross-section is not connected to any physically observable quantity.