Paper 2, Section II, A

Applications of Quantum Mechanics | Part II, 2016

A particle of mass mm moves in three dimensions subject to a potential V(r)V(\mathbf{r}) localised near the origin. The wavefunction for a scattering process with incident particle of wavevector k\mathbf{k} is denoted ψ(k,r)\psi(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{r}). With reference to the asymptotic form of ψ\psi, define the scattering amplitude f(k,k′)f\left(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{k}^{\prime}\right), where k′\mathbf{k}^{\prime} is the wavevector of the outgoing particle with ∣k′∣=∣k∣=k\left|\mathbf{k}^{\prime}\right|=|\mathbf{k}|=k.

By recasting the Schrödinger equation for ψ(k,r)\psi(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{r}) as an integral equation, show that

f(k,k′)=−m2πℏ2∫d3r′exp⁡(−ik′⋅r′)V(r′)ψ(k,r′)f\left(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{k}^{\prime}\right)=-\frac{m}{2 \pi \hbar^{2}} \int d^{3} \mathbf{r}^{\prime} \exp \left(-i \mathbf{k}^{\prime} \cdot \mathbf{r}^{\prime}\right) V\left(\mathbf{r}^{\prime}\right) \psi\left(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{r}^{\prime}\right)

[You may assume that

G(k;r)=−14π∣r∣exp⁡(ik∣r∣)\mathcal{G}(k ; \mathbf{r})=-\frac{1}{4 \pi|\mathbf{r}|} \exp (i k|\mathbf{r}|)

is the Green's function for ∇2+k2\nabla^{2}+k^{2} which obeys the appropriate boundary conditions for a scattering solution.]

Now suppose V(r)=λU(r)V(\mathbf{r})=\lambda U(\mathbf{r}), where λ≪1\lambda \ll 1 is a dimensionless constant. Determine the first two non-zero terms in the expansion of f(k,k′)f\left(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{k}^{\prime}\right) in powers of λ\lambda, giving each term explicitly as an integral over one or more position variables r,r′,…\mathbf{r}, \mathbf{r}^{\prime}, \ldots

Evaluate the contribution to f(k,k′)f\left(\mathbf{k}, \mathbf{k}^{\prime}\right) of order λ\lambda in the case U(r)=δ(∣r∣−a)U(\mathbf{r})=\delta(|\mathbf{r}|-a), expressing the answer as a function of a,ka, k and the scattering angle θ\theta (defined so that k⋅k′=k2cos⁡θ)\left.\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{k}^{\prime}=k^{2} \cos \theta\right).

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