Solution Week 69 (1/5/04) Compton scattering We will solve this problem by making use of 4-momenta.

The 4-momentum of a particle is given by P (P0 , P1 , P2 , P3 ) (E, px c, py c, pz c) (E, pc). In general, the inner-product of two 4-vectors is given by A B A0 B0 A1 B1 A2 B2 A3 B3 . (2) (1)

The square of a 4-momentum (that is, the inner product of a 4-momentum with itself) is therefore P 2 P P = E 2 |p|2 c2 = m2 c4 . (3) Lets now apply these idea to the problem at hand. We will actually be doing nothing here other than applying conservation of energy and momentum. Its just that the language of 4-vectors makes the whole procedure surprisingly simple. Note that conservation of E and p during the collision can be succinctly written as Pbefore = Pafter . Referring to the gure below, the 4-momenta before the collision are P = hc hc , , 0, 0 , Pm = (mc2 , 0, 0, 0). (5) (4)

And the 4-momenta after the collision are P = hc hc hc , cos , sin , 0 , Pm = (we won t need this). (6)

y ' m

If we wanted to, we could write Pm in terms of its momentum and scattering angle. But the nice thing about this 4-momentum method is that we dont need to introduce any quantities that were not interested in. 1

Conservation of energy and momentum give P + Pm = P + Pm . Therefore,

2 (P + Pm P )2 = Pm 2 2 2 = P + Pm + P2 + 2Pm (P P ) 2P P = Pm hc hc hc hc = 0 + m2 c4 + 0 + 2mc2 2 (1 cos ) = m2 c4 .

(7)

Multiplying through by /(2hmc3 ) gives the desired result, =+ h (1 cos ). mc (8)

The ease of this solution arose from the fact that all the unknown garbage in Pm disappeared when we squared it.
Remarks: 1. If 0 (that is, not much scattering), then , as expected. 2. If = (that is, backward scattering) and additionally hc/ = E ), then 2h/mc, so E = hc 1 hc 2h = mc2 . 2 mc h/mc (that is, mc2

(9)

Therefore, the photon bounces back with an essentially xed E , independent of the initial E (as long as E is large enough). This isnt all that obvious.