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Physics of Particles and Nuclei

Wave packets in the quantum theory of collisions

M. I. Shirokov

Published Jan 1, 2008• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Two methodological difficulties of the quantum theory of collisions are considered. The first is the undesirable interference of the incident and scattered waves in the stationary approach to scattering. The second concerns the nonstationary approach to the theory of collisions of the type a + b → c + d. In order to calculate the cross section one uses the matrix element 〈cd|S|ab〉 of the S-matrix. The element is proportional to δ-function expressing the energy conservation. The corresponding probability |〈cd|S|ab〉|2 contains δ2, which is mathematically meaningless. The known regular way to overcome the difficulty seems to be unsatisfactory. In this paper, both the problems are resolved using wave packets of incident particles.

DOI
10.1134/s1063779608010073

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Wave packets in the quantum theory of collisions

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Two methodological troubles of the quantum theory of collisions are considered. The first is the undesirable interference of the incident and scattered waves in the stationary approach to scattering. The second concerns the nonstationary approach to the theory of collisions of the type $a+b\to c+d$. In order to calculate the cross section one uses the matrix element $$ of the $S$-matrix. The element is proportional to $δ$-function expressing the energy conservation. The corresponding probability $|< cd|S|ab>|^2$ contains $δ^2$ which is mathematically senseless. The known regular way to overcome the difficulty seems to be unsatisfactory. In this paper, both the troubles are resolved using wave packets of incident particles.

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Two methodological difficulties of the quantum theory of collisions are considered. The first is the undesirable interference of the incident and scattered waves in the stationary approach to scattering. The second concerns the nonstationary approach to the theory of collisions of the type a + b → c + d. In order to calculate the cross section one uses the matrix element 〈cd|S|ab〉 of the S-matrix. The element is proportional to δ-function expressing the energy conservation. The corresponding probability |〈cd|S|ab〉|2 contains δ2, which is mathematically meaningless. The known regular way to overcome the difficulty seems to be unsatisfactory. In this paper, both the problems are resolved using wave packets of incident particles.
Two methodological troubles of the quantum theory of collisions are considered. The first is the undesirable interference of the incident and scattered waves in the stationary approach to scattering. The second concerns the nonstationary approach to the theory of collisions of the type a+b→c+da+b\to c+da+b→c+d. In order to calculate the cross section one uses the matrix element $$ of the SSS-matrix. The element is proportional to δδδ-function expressing the energy conservation. The corresponding probability ∣<cd∣S∣ab>∣2|< cd|S|ab>|^2∣<cd∣S∣ab>∣2 contains δ2δ^2δ2 which is mathematically senseless. The known regular way to overcome the difficulty seems to be unsatisfactory. In this paper, both the troubles are resolved using wave packets of incident particles.
THE classical theory of a point charge and the quantum theory of wave packets contain in their usual form well-known divergences. Dirae1 has elaborated a classical particle theory which avoids these difficulties, but his results cannot as yet be applied to quantum theory. On the other hand, Heisenberg1 has recently proposed a new formalism which permits the calculation of collision cross-sections in quantum theory without being disturbed by diverging terms. However, no connecting link such as the correspondence principle has been given in order to apply this quantum formalism to a given problem such as Rutherford scattering, Compton effect or radiation damping.
The elastic scattering of spinless particles from a spherically symmetric stationary target is considered. The main idea is to describe the incident beam of particles as a certain statistical ensemble of one-particle wave packets, and to define the differential cross section in terms of the average scattering of the particles in this ensemble. The physical significance of this mode of description is discussed, and arguments are presented as to why it should be regarded as a realistic description of typical scattering experiments. The discussion is general, and not restricted to potential scattering. It is based on the notion of the S matrix, and the most basic ideas of the S matrix are discussed. A simple derivation of the partial wave expansion is given within the framework of S matrix theory. The aim of this paper is mainly pedagogical, and the final results obtained are old and well established.
A wave-packet formalism is presented for obtaining the differential cross section for the elastic scattering of a single particle by a potential. The method avoids difficulties inherent in the more common formulations such as interference between incident and scattered waves, box normalization, and density of final states. The time sequence of events in the scattering process is pictured in an intuitively appealing manner. The initial form of the wave packet is specified explicitly, and the time development of the wave packet is determined from the time-translation operator. The asymptotic form of the wave packet is investigated after a sufficiently long time lapse, and the cross section is obtained from a calculation of particle flux densities.
Quantum elastic potential scattering of a particle is re-examined taking into account exact solutions of the corresponding Schrödinger equation. In addition to the scattering of stationary plane waves and stationary finite-width wave beams, nonstationary wave packets having finite duration times are studied and some corresponding examples are presented. The role of interference between the scattered wave and the advancing incident beam is studied. Several two-dimensional scattering problems, involving axially symmetric, generic examples of nonuniform attractive and repulsive potentials, are discussed in more detail. This discussion concentrates on finding proper conditions when the solutions of the Schrödinger equation may resemble the corresponding solutions of the classical Newton equation. Examples are shown where such similarities occur.
A semiclassical approximation is presented which uses the wave-pocket formulation of collision theory. First an appropriate semiclassical approximation is derived by assuming that the wave packet is and remains narrow during the passage of the interaction region. After this, a process is devised to decompose a macroscopic wave packet into narrow wave packets. The wave function, after the collision, is obtained by summing up the contributions from all the narrow wave packets into which the macroscopic wave packet was decomposed. Finally, using this function, the SSS matrix and the scattering cross section are calculated.