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Scattering and Born Approximation

This document summarizes key points from Lecture 24 on scattering and the Born approximation. It introduces the time-independent Schrodinger equation and expresses it in integral form using a Green's function. It then derives the first Born approximation, which assumes the scattering potential is weak and does not significantly alter the wavefunction. The approximation expresses the wave function as an integral involving the incident wave and scattering potential. Finally, it discusses applying the Born approximation to cases of low-energy scattering and spherically symmetric potentials.

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Manu Sharma
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467 views6 pages

Scattering and Born Approximation

This document summarizes key points from Lecture 24 on scattering and the Born approximation. It introduces the time-independent Schrodinger equation and expresses it in integral form using a Green's function. It then derives the first Born approximation, which assumes the scattering potential is weak and does not significantly alter the wavefunction. The approximation expresses the wave function as an integral involving the incident wave and scattering potential. Finally, it discusses applying the Born approximation to cases of low-energy scattering and spherically symmetric potentials.

Uploaded by

Manu Sharma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 24

Scattering. The Born approximation.


The time-independent Schrdinger equation

can be written as

(which has the form of Helmholtz equation).


If we find the function G(r) that solves the Helmholtz equation with a delta function
"source"

we could express as an integral.

Question to the class: proof that this still satisfies the Schrdinger equation.

Note that what we are trying to do is essentially to write Schrdinger equation in an


integral form rather than solve it. The function G(r) is called the Green's function for the
Helmholtz equation.

Lecture 24 Page 1

Derivation (see pages 409-411 of the textbook) shows that it is

We can add to it any function that satisfies the homogeneous Helmholtz equation

Now we arrive to the integral form of the Schrdinger equation

Lecture 24 Page 2

The First Born Approximation


We suppose that scattering potential V(r0) is localized about r0=0, i.e. potential drops
to zero outside of finite region. It is a typical case for a scattering problem. We would
like to calculate the wave function far away from the scattering center. Therefore, we
can assume

for all points in our integral.

Then,

Let's use this approximation in

Note that we need to be more careful with approximating the exponential term
than the denominator.

In case of scattering
incident plane wave
Then, our wave function can be written in a form

Lecture 24 Page 3

So far, we only assumed


Now, we use the Born approximation. Let's assume that the potential does not
significantly alter the wave function (weak potential approximation).

Then,

Scattering amplitude in Born approximation.

As before, the differential and total cross sections are given by

We can now consider two cases:


(1) Low-energy scattering
(2) Spherically symmetric potential.

Lecture 24 Page 4

Low energy scattering


In the case of low energy scattering, we can consider exponential factor to be
constant over the scattering region and the Born approximation simplifies to

Exercise for the class: use low-energy scattering in Born approximation to calculate
differential and total cross sections for low-energy soft-sphere scattering,

Lecture 24 Page 5

Spherically symmetric potential

Then,

Where is dependence on ?

Lecture 24 Page 6

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