ELASTIC SCATTERING OF A QUANTUM PARTICLE

BY A CENTRAL POTENTIAL
Pupyshev V.V.
JINR, BLTP
June 28, 2012
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 1 / 16
1. INTRODUCTION
By denition,
p
1
is a quantum particle with mass m;
R
3
is the three dimensional coordinate space in which this particle moves;
S
3
is the cartesian coordinate system in this space.
In this system r = (r , , ), k and E = (k)
2
/(2m) are the radius- and wave
vectors and the total energy of the particle p
1
;
V(r ) is the central (spherically-symmetric) potential acting on the particle p
1
and obeying the following condition
_
b
a
|V(r )|r dr < , a, b : 0 a < b . (1)
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 2 / 16
The wave function (r; k) describing the elastic scattering of the particle satises the
three dimensional Schr odinger equation
_

2
2m

r
+ E V(r )
_
(r, k) = 0 (2)
and the scattering boundary condition
(r; k) exp(kr ) + f ()
exp(kr )
r
, r . (3)
The function is represented as series
(r; k) =
1
r

=0
u

(r ; k) P

(cos ) , (4)
where P

, = 0, 1, 2 . . ., are the Legendre polynomials, and is the angle between the

vectors r and k.
By substitution (4) equation (2) is reduced to the innite set ( = 0, 1, 2, . . .) of
uncoupled one dimensional Schr odinger equations for the radial components u

.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 3 / 16
The Schr odinger equations for the radial components u

with given reads as

_

2
r
+ k
2

( + 1)
r
2
V(r )
_
u

(r ; k) = 0 , r 0 . (5)
Two solutions of this equation are physically interesting:
the regular solution u
+

with asymptotics
u
+

(r ; k) = O(
+1
) , kr 0 ; u
+

(r ; k) sin [ /2 +

(k) ] , ,
(6)
and irregular solution u

having the asymptotics

u

(r ; k) = O(

) , 0 ; u

(r ; k) cos [ /2 +

(k) ] , . (7)
Here

(k) is the phase-shift generated by the potential V(r ).

Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 4 / 16
2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The main aims of our work is
to develop the linear version of variable phase approach
and propose the methods allowing one derive
the explicit asymptotics of both solutions u
+

and u

in the four physically interesting limits.

They are:
the limit of small values of the argument r ,
the limit of large values of this argument,
the limit of large integer angular momentum ,
and the limit of small positive energy E = ( k)
2
/(2m) 0+.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 5 / 16
3. METHODS
The suggested methods are based on the linear version of the variable phase
approach to the potential scattering.
3.1 The linear version of the variable phase approach
In this version
rst, the Riccati-Bessel functions j

() and n

() are used as the solutions of free radial

Schr odinger equation (5);
second, two amplitude functions c and s obeying the Lagrange identity
j

()
r
c(r ; k) n

()
r
s(r ; k) = 0 kr r 0 , (8)
are introduced
and, nally, the wave-function u

in represented as
u

(r ; k) = N(k) U(r ; k) , U(r ; k) = c(r ; k) j

() s(r ; k) n

() , (9)
where N(k) is the searched normalization factor.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 6 / 16
Then by substitution (9) the Schr odinger equation (5) is reduced to the system of the
rst-order differential equations for the amplitude functions c and s

r
c(r ; k) = k
1
V(r ) [ j

() s(r ; k) n

() n

() ] n

() , (10)

r
s(r ; k) = k
1
V(r ) [ j

() s(r ; k) n

() n

() ] j

()
and these functions are obeyed the following boundary conditions at the point r = 0
c(r ; k) = 1 , s(r ; k) = 0 , r = 0 , (11)
for regular function u
+

and
c(r ; k) = 0 , s(r ; k) = 1 , r = 0 . (12)
for irregular wave function u

.
And, nally, the phase-shift (k) and the norm factor N(k) are dened as the following
limits at large argument r :
(k) = lim
r
arctg [ s(r ; k)/c(r ; k) ] , N(k) = lim
r
[ c(r ; k)
2
+ s(r ; k)
2
]
1/2
.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 7 / 16
3.2 Method for construction of the coordinate asymptotics
In the suggested method
rst, the differential equations for the amplitude functions are rewritten in the
integral form;
second, the two obtained uncoupled integral equations are iterated;
and, nally, the principle of contracting mapping is used to prove
the uniform convergence of the iterations under well-dened conditions.
As a result the following three theorems were proven.
One has to point out that in these theorems the exponential function
B(b, r ; k) exp
_
k
1
_
r
b
V(t ) j

(kt ) n

(kt ) dt
_
(13)
is included in the asymptotics and the residual term is dened by the integral
v

(b, r )
_
2
2 + 1
_
r
b
|V(t )|t dt . (14)
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 8 / 16
Theorem 1: asymptotics at small argument r .
Let and k are xed v
2
(0, r ) and b is a root of the inequality
v

(0, b)
_
2
2 + 1
_
b
0
|V(t )|t dt < 1 . (15)
Then in the limit r /b 0 the regular wave function u
+

has the asymptotics

u
+

(r ; k) = N(k) { [ 1 + (r ; k) + O() ] j

() [ (r ; k) + O())n

() ] } , (16)
where
(r ; k) k
2
_
r
0
n
2

(kt ) B
2
(0, t ; k) dt
_
t
0
j
2

(kz) B
2
(0, z; k) dz , (17)
(r ; k) k
1
_
r
0
j
2

(kt ) B
2
(0, t ; k) dt .
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 9 / 16
Theorem 2: asymptotics at large argument r .
Let and k are xed v
2

(r , ) and b is a root of the inequality

v

(b, )
_
2
2 + 1
_

b
|V(t )|t dt < 1 . (18)
Then in the limit r /b the regular wave function u
+

has the asymptotics

u
+

(r ; k) = N(k) { [ (r ; k) + O() ] j

() [ (r ; k) + O() ] n

() } , (19)
where
(r ; k) c(; k) s(; k) k
1
_
r

n
2

(kt ) B
2
(, t ; k) dt , (20)
(r ; k) s(; k) + c(; k) k
1
_
r

j
2

(kt ) B
2
(, t ; k) dt .
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 10 / 16
Theorem 3: asymptotics at large angular momentum .
Let k > 0, v
2
L
(0, ) and L is such that the following inequality holds
v
L
(0, )
_
2
2L + 1
_

0
|V(t )|t dt < 1 . (21)
Then in the limit /L the regular wave function u
+

has the asymptotics

u
+

(r ; k) = N(k) { [ 1 + (r ; k) + O() ] j

() + [ (r ; k) + O() ] n

() } ,
where and are the functions from Theorem 1.
The analogues of the Theorems 1-3 are proven for the irregular wave function u

.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 11 / 16
3.3 Method for construction of low-energy asymptotics
The proposed method is based on the differential equations for the amplitude
functions (10) and the well-known expansions of the Riccati-Bessel functions
j

(kr ) = (kr )
+1

n=0
a
n
k
2n
r
2n
, n

(kr ) = (kr )

n=0
b
n
k
2n
r
2n
where are a
n
and b
n
the numerical coefcients.
The amplitude functions are searched as series
c(r ; k) =

n=0
k
2n
c
n
(r ) , s

(r ; k) = (k)
2+1

n=0
k
2n
s
n
(r ) .
As result for the regular wave function one obtains the expansion
u
+
(r ; k) = k
+1
N(k)

n=0
k
2n
U
n
(r ) , U
n
(r )

p+q=n
[ a
p
c
q
(r ) + b
p
s
q
(r ) ] .
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 12 / 16
In this expansion the functions c
n
and s
n
are dened the recurrence chain of the
energy-independent equations.
The rst system of this chain reads as

r
c
0
(r ) =
V(r )
2 + 1
_
rc
0
+ r
2
s
0
_
, (22)

r
s
0
(r ) =
V(r )
2 + 1
r
2+1
_
rc
0
+ r
2
s
0
_
.
The second system has a form

r
c
1
(r ) =
V(r )
2 + 1
_
rc
1
+ r
2
s
1
+
r
2
2 1
_
2
2 + 3
rc
0
+ r
2
s
0
__
, (23)

r
s
1
(r ) =
V(r )
2 + 1
r
2+1
_
rc
1
+ r
2
s
1

r
2
2 + 3
_
rc
0

2
2 1
r
2
s
0
__
.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 13 / 16
The next system is

r
c
2
(r ) =
V(r )
2 + 1
_
rc
2
+ r
2
s
2
+
r
2
2 1
_
2
2 + 3
rc
1
+ r
2
s
1
_
+
+
r
4
(2 1)(2 3)
_
6
(2 + 3)(2 + 5)
rc
0
+
1
2 1
r
2
s
0
_ _
,

r
s
2
(r ) =
V(r )
2 + 1
r
2+1
_
rc
2
+ r
2
s
2

r
2
2 + 3
_
rc
1

2
2 1
r
2
s
1
_
+ (24)
+
r
4
(2 + 3)(2 + 5)
_
+ 2
2 + 3
rc
0
+
6
(2 1)(2 3)
r
2
s
0
__
.
At the point r = 0 the boundary conditions are
c
0
(r ) = 1 , s
0
(r ) = 0 ; c
n
(r ), s
n
= 0 n = 1, 2, . . .
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 14 / 16
The obtained representation of the irregular wave function u

is the series
u

(r ; k) = k

(k)

n=0
k
2n
U
n
(r ) , U
n
(r )

p+q=n
[ a
p
c
q
(r ) + b
p
s
q
(r ) ]
in which the functions c
n
and s
n
satisfy the systems (22)(24) and the boundary
conditions
c
0
(r ) = 0 , s
0
(r ) = 1 ; c
n
(r ), s
n
= 0 n = 1, 2, . . .
The next result is the proof of the following theorem.
Theorem 4.
Let energy tends to zero.
If for any n = 0, 1, 2, . . . the potential V satises the condition
lim
r
r
n
V(r ) = 0 .
then the obtained expansions for regular and irregular wave-functions converge
uniformly in respect to the argument r and angular momentum .
In the opposite case, when the potential V is the long-range one, these series
converge uniformly if r < .
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 15 / 16
4. Summary
The linear version of the variable phase approach to the elastic scattering of a quantum
particle by a central potential is supplemented by the methods for construction of the
coordinate and low-energy asymptotics of radial regular and irregular wave-functions.
Pupyshev V.V. (JINR) Elastic scattering June 28, 2012 16 / 16