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Scattering and tunnelling

Keith Hannabuss

Published Mar 20, 1997• 2 citations

Abstract

Abstract Ever since Rutherford’s pioneering work, passing alpha rays through a metal foil target, beams of particles have provided a means of probing the fine details of subatomic structure. Modern accelerators hurl particles through a target at velocities only slightly less than that of light. The wavelength of each particle shrinks as its momentum increases and it becomes possible to distinguish features far beyond the resolving power of any microscope. In the simplest cases (such as Rutherford’s sedate Edwardian experiments) the particles emerge from their encounter unscathed, and it is by analysing the changes to their momentum that one must build up a picture of the target. To develop some feeling for what happens we shall look at the simplest case in which the particle suffers no deflection. We therefore consider particles moving along a line on which there is some kind of potential barrier.

DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198537946.003.0005

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