Abstract In this chapter we explain how particle scattering can be described by local observables. First we introduce the concept of the S-matrix, which is an idea common to classical and quantum mechanics. We show the construction of incoming and outgoing states which have a certain asymptotic behaviour at time −∞ and +∞, and we also show that the constructed states have an acceptable physical asymptotic behaviour. Then we derive the representation of the S-matrix given by these scattering states and discuss its properties.
Abstract In this chapter we explain how particle scattering can be described by local observables. First we introduce the concept of the S-matrix, which is an idea common to classical and quantum mechanics. We show the construction of incoming and outgoing states which have a certain asymptotic behaviour at time −∞ and +∞, and we also show that the constructed states have an acceptable physical asymptotic behaviour. Then we derive the representation of the S-matrix given by these scattering states and discuss its properties.
This chapter shows how scattering problems are formulated in the framework of path integrals. In quantum mechanics, the state of an isolated system evolves under the action of a unitary operator, as a consequence of the conservation of probabilities and, thus, of the norm of vectors in Hilbert space. Quantum evolution (that is, in real time) is introduced, after which a path integral representation of the scattering matrix is constructed. From this S matrix, the standard perturbative expansion in powers of the potential is recovered. Even the evolution of a free quantum particle is slightly non-trivial; in general, one observes a spreading of wave packets. Scattering is then characterized by the asymptotic deviations at infinite time from this free evolution and this leads to the definition of a scattering or S-matrix. An S-matrix is defined in the example of bosons and fermions. Various other semi-classical approximation schemes are then discussed.
Abstract We proceed in this chapter to discuss scattering theory and related aspects of the bound-state problem in quaternionic quantum mechanics. We begin with a detailed discussion of a simple one-dimensional example, the delta function potential model. From this model will emerge the result (Adler, 1988) that will be the principal theme of this and the succeeding two chapters: with the standard ray representative choice of Sec. 4.2, for short-range potentials the asymptotic scattering states and the S-matrix in quaternionic quantum mechanics are always complex ℂ(1, i).
Scattering theory studies the behaviour of (quantum) systems over time and length scales which are very large, compared with the time or length that are characteristic of the interaction which affects them. The chapter begins with an outline of the basic problems of scattering theory, i.e. the existence of scattering states, their uniqueness, weak asymptotic completeness the existence of the scattering transformation, S , the reduction of S due to symmetries, the analyticity of S , asymptotic completeness and the existence of wave operators. After considering the Schrödinger equation for stationary states, the integral equation for scattering problems is derived and studied. The Born approximation and the Born series are presented, and the conditions which ensure convergence of the Born series are also discussed. Further topics are partial wave expansion, its convergence and the uniqueness of the solution satisfying the asymptotic condition, the Levinson theorem. Lastly, in the first part of the chapter, scattering theory from singular potentials is introduced, with emphasis on the polydromy of the wave function, following early work in the literature, and the general problems in the theory of resonances are studied. In the second part, we examine in detail a separable potential model, the occurrence of bound states in the completeness relationship, an excitable potential model and the unitarity of the Möller wave operator. Lastly, we study the survival amplitude associated with quantum decay transitions. Aims and problems of scattering theory Scattering theory is the branch of physics that is concerned with interacting systems on a scale of time and/or distance that is large compared with the scale of the interaction itself, and it provides the most powerful tool for studying the microscopic nature of the world.
A definition is formulated of the scattering matrix for a closed physical system with bound states which makes use throughout only of the assumed observable properties of the system. A direct product space, X, is defined in which the ingredient factor space comprises the steady states—vacuum, one-particle, and bound states—of the physical system. It is argued that the boundary conditions for a scattering experiment are suitably expressed in terms of vectors in X and that these stand in unitary correspondence, U, to the Heisenberg states. Indeed, one defines two operators U(±) to express outgoing and ingoing wave boundary conditions, and the scattering matrix is constructed from these in the usual way. A suitable Yang-Feldman formalism is then developed in which the operators in the remote past and future also describe the bound states of the system. A representation of the framework thus constructed in terms of field operators for individual fields results in the well-known formulas for S-matrix elements in terms of covariant amplitudes.
This chapter focuses on the scattering matrix, or S-matrix, an infinite-dimensional matrix or operator that expresses the state of a scattering system consisting of waves or particles or both in the far future in terms of its state in the remote past. In the case of electromagnetic (or acoustic) waves, the S-matrix connects the intensity, phase, and polarization of the outgoing waves in the far field at various angles to the direction and polarization of the beam pointed toward an obstacle. The chapter first considers the problem of scattering by a square well, located symmetrically with respect to the origin, before discussing bound states and a heuristic derivation of the Breit-Wigner formula. It als describes the Watson transform and Regge poles before concluding with an analysis of the time-independent radial Schrödinger equation and Levinson's theorem.
Conventional scattering theory is incomplete in that it does not adequately describe the behaviour of the wave function at macroscopic distances from the scattering reaction volume. In scattering experiments particles are incident from sources at macroscopic distance and measured at macroscopic distance from the microscopic reaction volume. Standard experimental procedure is to describe asymptotic particle motion by classical mechanics. However, this transition to classical mechanics is not accounted for in standard quantum scattering theory. Hence, we revisit conventional scattering theory with the introduction of semiclassical propagators to describe the wave function in both incident and outgoing asymptotic scattering channels. This description leads to the manifestation of classical trajectories in the quantum wave function both before and after the collision. It includes the case of extraction with external fields as in modern multi-particle detectors. We derive the asymptotic Kemble imaging theorem (IT) limit to demonstrate how formal quantum scattering theory contains implicit classical mechanics threaded throughout the asymptotic wave functions.