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Physical Review

Analyticity of the Schrödinger Scattering Amplitude and Nonrelativistic Dispersion Relations

N. N. Khuri

Published Aug 15, 1957• 103 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Fredholm theory of integral equations is used to give a rigorous proof of the analyticity and boundedness of the ordinary nonrelativistic scattering amplitude for a fixed momentum transfer. The results follow from ordinary quantum mechanics and certain conditions on the potentials. These conditions are stated explicitly, and the bound states are treated with rigor. It is shown that the amplitude vanishes in the limit of large momenta, and thus simple dispersion relations are derived. Finally, it is proved that the partial-wave expansion is convergent in the unphysical region, provided the potentials satisfy the same conditions as above.

DOI
10.1103/physrev.107.1148

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The Fredholm theory of integral equations is used to give a rigorous proof of the analyticity and boundedness of the ordinary nonrelativistic scattering amplitude for a fixed momentum transfer. The results follow from ordinary quantum mechanics and certain conditions on the potentials. These conditions are stated explicitly, and the bound states are treated with rigor. It is shown that the amplitude vanishes in the limit of large momenta, and thus simple dispersion relations are derived. Finally, it is proved that the partial-wave expansion is convergent in the unphysical region, provided the potentials satisfy the same conditions as above.
It is shown that if the wave function of a nonrelativistic particle satisfies the Schr\"odinger equation with a velocity-independent potential, then its scattering amplitudes (and the SSS matrix in general) satisfy the same dispersion formulas as those derived for the scattering of light. In the present derivation, the validity of a perturbation expansion and certain integrability of the potential are assumed, and the requirement of the outgoing wave Green's function replaces the condition of strict causality for the scattering of light. The scattering amplitude for fixed momentum transfer is also shown to satisfy the dispersion relations. Together with the unitarity of the SSS matrix, the complete SSS matrix is determined by the Fourier transform of the potential through an iterative procedure using the dispersion relations. If the potential possesses bound states, then all the dispersion formulas are modified to include residue terms corresponding to singularities on the positive imaginary axis of the momentum plane. The necessity of these modifications is related to the divergence of the perturbation series for small wave numbers. Essential singularities of the SSS matrix due to exponentially damped potentials give no additional contribution to the dispersion formulas.
A new formulation of the causality condition, in terms of the total wave function at a finite distance from the scatterer, is given. This condition is employed to derive all known analytic properties of the scattering amplitude in both variables (energy and scattering angle or momentum transfer) for a scatterer of finite radius. It is shown that all the assumptions are valid in the particular case of scattering by a local potential. The relations between causality, Wigner's inequality, and completeness are discussed.
A self-contained discussion of nonrelativistic quantum mechanical potential scattering in two dimensions is presented. The discussion includes, among other topics, partial wave decomposition in coordinate and momentum space, Lippmann–Schwinger integral equations of scattering for the scattering wavefunction and the transition operator, optical theorem, and the unitarity relation for the transition operator. The present definition of the scattering amplitude in terms of the asymptotic wavefunction differs from the usual definition. The present definition has certain advantages, for example, in writing the optical theorem and in studying the analytical properties of the scattering amplitude.
In this paper we give a complete theory of the scattering operator on a rigorous mathematical foundation for a certain class of quantum mechanical systems called, 'simple scattering systems'. These systems are characterized by three properties formulated in Section 3. The relation of these properties to the physical content of scattering is explained. We then proceed to define the wave operator and the scattering operator and prove their existence with mathematically rigorous methods. No assumptions are needed regarding the occurrence of bound states and the location of their energy with respect to the continuum region of the total energy operator. In Section 4 we demonstrate the existence of a certain integral representation of the scattering operator which has often been used as a starting point of the iteration approximation. Certain general properties of scattering systems are obtained in Section 5. This leads to necessary conditions for systems to be scattering systems as well as to a new definition of the scattering operator. The paper concludes with a derivation of the scattering cross-section from the scattering operator. The improvement of this derivation over the older ones sonsists in the special care employed for stating the assumptions which must go into such a derivation and the avoidence of improper functions or other artificial devices.
The problem of determining the Schr\"odinger wave function of a nonrelativistic particle that is either scattered by a potential of a finite range or that is bound to it is reformulated in a novel way. It is shown that in either case the wave function must satisfy a certain boundary condition on the surface that delimits the effective range of the potential. For scattering states the boundary condition is analogous to the mathematical formulation of the Ewald-Oseen extinction theorem of classical electromagnetic theory. The new formulation is illustrated by determining the scattering states and the bound states for a central potential. It is also shown that a boundary condition that is used in band-structure calculations in solids is an immediate consequence of our quantum-mechanical extinction theorem for bound states.
The connection between causality and analyticity in scattering theory is formulated in terms of Hilbertspace concepts. The usual rules of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics are assumed to hold for the "in" and "out" states of the scattering system. We show that there is a (physically verifiable) causality condition which implies that each diagonal SSS-matrix element ${S}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\alpha}}(E)$ must be the limit of an analytic function of the energy EEE, regular in ImE>0\mathrm{Im}E>0ImE>0. The implications for partial-wave amplitudes and for the forward scattering amplitude in elastic two-body collisions are discussed.