Paper 4, Section II, B

Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Part II, 2019

(a) A classical beam of particles scatters off a spherically symmetric potential V(r)V(r). Draw a diagram to illustrate the differential cross-section dσ/dΩd \sigma / d \Omega, and use this to derive an expression for dσ/dΩd \sigma / d \Omega in terms of the impact parameter bb and the scattering angle θ\theta.

A quantum beam of particles of mass mm and momentum p=kp=\hbar k is incident along the zz-axis and scatters off a spherically symmetric potential V(r)V(r). Write down the asymptotic form of the wavefunction ψ\psi in terms of the scattering amplitude f(θ)f(\theta). By considering the probability current J=i(/2m)(ψψ(ψ)ψ)\mathbf{J}=-i(\hbar / 2 m)\left(\psi^{\star} \nabla \psi-\left(\nabla \psi^{\star}\right) \psi\right), derive an expression for the differential cross-section dσ/dΩd \sigma / d \Omega in terms of f(θ)f(\theta).

(b) The solution ψ(r)\psi(\mathbf{r}) of the radial Schrödinger equation for a particle of mass mm and wave number kk moving in a spherically symmetric potential V(r)V(r) has the asymptotic form

ψ(r)l=0[Al(k)sin(krlπ2)krBl(k)cos(krlπ2)kr]Pl(cosθ)\psi(\mathbf{r}) \sim \sum_{l=0}^{\infty}\left[A_{l}(k) \frac{\sin \left(k r-\frac{l \pi}{2}\right)}{k r}-B_{l}(k) \frac{\cos \left(k r-\frac{l \pi}{2}\right)}{k r}\right] P_{l}(\cos \theta)

valid for kr1k r \gg 1, where Al(k)A_{l}(k) and Bl(k)B_{l}(k) are constants and PlP_{l} denotes the ll th Legendre polynomial. Define the S-matrix element SlS_{l} and the corresponding phase shift δl\delta_{l} for the partial wave of angular momentum ll, in terms of Al(k)A_{l}(k) and Bl(k)B_{l}(k). Define also the scattering length asa_{s} for the potential VV.

Outside some core region, r>r0r>r_{0}, the Schrödinger equation for some such potential is solved by the s-wave (i.e. l=0l=0 ) wavefunction ψ(r)=ψ(r)\psi(\mathbf{r})=\psi(r) with,

ψ(r)=eikrr+k+iλtanh(λr)kiλeikrr\psi(r)=\frac{e^{-i k r}}{r}+\frac{k+i \lambda \tanh (\lambda r)}{k-i \lambda} \frac{e^{i k r}}{r}

where λ>0\lambda>0 is a constant. Extract the S-matrix element S0S_{0}, the phase shift δ0\delta_{0} and the scattering length asa_{s}. Deduce that the potential V(r)V(r) has a bound state of zero angular momentum and compute its energy. Give the form of the (un-normalised) bound state wavefunction in the region r>r0r>r_{0}.