Paper 2, Section II, D

Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Part II, 2013

(i) A particle of momentum k\hbar k and energy E=2k2/2mE=\hbar^{2} k^{2} / 2 m scatters off a sphericallysymmetric target in three dimensions. Define the corresponding scattering amplitude ff as a function of the scattering angle θ\theta. Expand the scattering amplitude in partial waves of definite angular momentum ll, and determine the coefficients of this expansion in terms of the phase shifts δl(k)\delta_{l}(k) appearing in the following asymptotic form of the wavefunction, valid at large distance from the target,

ψ(r)l=02l+12ik[e2iδleikrr(1)leikrr]Pl(cosθ).\psi(\mathbf{r}) \sim \sum_{l=0}^{\infty} \frac{2 l+1}{2 i k}\left[e^{2 i \delta_{l}} \frac{e^{i k r}}{r}-(-1)^{l} \frac{e^{-i k r}}{r}\right] P_{l}(\cos \theta) .

Here, r=rr=|\mathbf{r}| is the distance from the target and PlP_{l} are the Legendre polynomials.

[You may use without derivation the following approximate relation between plane and spherical waves (valid asymptotically for large rr ):

exp(ikz)l=0(2l+1)ilsin(kr12lπ)krPl(cosθ).\exp (i k z) \sim \sum_{l=0}^{\infty}(2 l+1) i^{l} \frac{\sin \left(k r-\frac{1}{2} l \pi\right)}{k r} P_{l}(\cos \theta) .

(ii) Suppose that the potential energy takes the form V(r)=λU(r)V(r)=\lambda U(r) where λ1\lambda \ll 1 is a dimensionless coupling. By expanding the wavefunction in a power series in λ\lambda, derive the Born Approximation to the scattering amplitude in the form

f(θ)=2mλ20U(r)sinqrqrdrf(\theta)=-\frac{2 m \lambda}{\hbar^{2}} \int_{0}^{\infty} U(r) \frac{\sin q r}{q} r d r

up to corrections of order λ2\lambda^{2}, where q=2ksin(θ/2)q=2 k \sin (\theta / 2). [You may quote any results you need for the Green's function for the differential operator 2+k2\nabla^{2}+k^{2} provided they are stated clearly.]

(iii) Derive the corresponding order λ\lambda contribution to the phase shift δl(k)\delta_{l}(k) of angular momentum ll.

[You may use the orthogonality relations

1+1Pl(w)Pm(w)dw=2(2l+1)δlm\int_{-1}^{+1} P_{l}(w) P_{m}(w) d w=\frac{2}{(2 l+1)} \delta_{l m}

and the integral formula

01Pl(12x2)sin(ax)dx=a2[jl(a2)]2\int_{0}^{1} P_{l}\left(1-2 x^{2}\right) \sin (a x) d x=\frac{a}{2}\left[j_{l}\left(\frac{a}{2}\right)\right]^{2}

where jl(z)j_{l}(z) is a spherical Bessel function.]