Paper 2, Section II, D

Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Part II, 2009

A particle scatters quantum mechanically off a spherically symmetric potential V(r)V(r). In the l=0l=0 sector, and assuming 2/2m=1\hbar^{2} / 2 m=1, the radial wavefunction u(r)u(r) satisfies

d2udr2+V(r)u=k2u-\frac{d^{2} u}{d r^{2}}+V(r) u=k^{2} u

and u(0)=0u(0)=0. The asymptotic behaviour of uu, for large rr, is

u(r)C(S(k)eikreikr)u(r) \sim C\left(S(k) e^{i k r}-e^{-i k r}\right)

where CC is a constant. Show that if S(k)S(k) is analytically continued to complex kk, then

S(k)S(k)=1 and S(k)S(k)=1S(k) S(-k)=1 \quad \text { and } \quad S(k)^{*} S\left(k^{*}\right)=1

Deduce that for real k,S(k)=e2iδ0(k)k, S(k)=e^{2 i \delta_{0}(k)} for some real function δ0(k)\delta_{0}(k), and that δ0(k)=δ0(k).\delta_{0}(k)=-\delta_{0}(-k) .

For a certain potential,

S(k)=(k+iλ)(k+3iλ)(kiλ)(k3iλ)S(k)=\frac{(k+i \lambda)(k+3 i \lambda)}{(k-i \lambda)(k-3 i \lambda)}

where λ\lambda is a real, positive constant. Evaluate the scattering length aa and the total cross section 4πa24 \pi a^{2}.

Briefly explain the significance of the zeros of S(k)S(k).