5 Compton Scattering I

Compton Scattering I
1 Introduction
Compton scattering is the process whereby photons gain or
lose energy from collisions with electrons. It is an important
source of radiation at high energies, particularly at X-ray to
-ray energies.
In this chapter, we consider the total energy radiated by relativistic electrons as a result of scattering of soft photons.
High Energy Astrophysics
Geoffrey V. Bicknell
2 Scattering from electrons at rest

2.1 Classical approach (Thomson scattering)
When a flux of electros
n
o
t
magnetic radiation imo
ph
pinges on an electron,
d
e
r
the electron oscillates
te
t
a
c
and radiates electroIncident photons S
magnetic
radiation
(photons) in all directions.

Oscillating electron
High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I
2/59
We concentrate on the number flux of photons. Let

d N inc
Incident no of photons per unit time
-------------- =
dtdA
per unit area
d N scat
No of photons per unit time per steradian
---------------- =
dtd
scattered by the electron
The differential number of scattered photons is defined in
terms of the cross-section by:
d N inc d T
d N scat
---------------- = -------------- ---------dtdA d
dtd
3/59
The differential cross section for Thomson scattering is:

d T
1 2
---------- = --- r 0 ( 1 + cos2 )
2
d
r 0 = Classical electron radius
15
e2
= ------------------------- = 2.818 10 m
4 0 m e c 2
4/59
The classical electron radius, r 0 , is the radius derived by

treating the electron as a classical particle and assuming that
the its rest-mass is equal to its electrostatic potential, i.e.
e2
------------------ = m e c 2
4 0 r 0
Units
Note the units for the equation describing Thomson scattering
Number per unit time Area per unit
Number per unit time
=
per unit area

solid angle
per unit solid angle
5/59
The total cross-section for scattering into all solid angles is

given by
d N inc
d N scat
---------------- = T -------------dtdA
dt
T =
d T
2r 02
8 2
2
---------- d = ------------ ( 1 + cos ) d = ------ r 0
d
2 0
3
= 6.65 10
29
m2
The quantity T is the Thomson cross-section.

6/59
2.2 Quantum-mechanical particle approach

The above can
1 = h 1
be derived by
approximating
photons classi = h
cally as an electromagnetic
wave. It is also
E
Electron
useful to treat
the scattering from a particle point of view. To do so, we consider the collision between a photon and an electron in the rest
frame of the electron, as described in the figure.
7/59
The parameters describing the collision are:

= h = Initial photon energy
1 = h 1 = Final photon energy
m e c 2 = Initial electron energy
E = Final electron energy
= Angle of deflection of photon
8/59
Treatment of collision using 4-vectors

The conservation of momentum and energy gives the final
photon energy in terms of the initial energy. This can be derived in the following way.
In relativity, the conservation of energy and momentum becomes the conservation of four momentum. As we described
in the chapter on relativistic effects, the 4momentum of a
particle with energy E = mc 2 moving in the direction of
the unit vector n is described by:
9/59
E Ev
P = mc mv = ----- -c cc
E
= --- [ 1, n ]
c
n = Unit vector in the direction of motion
Limiting case of photon
In the limit where the mass goes to zero and 1 but the energy remains finite, we have a photon with 4momentum
P = -- [ 1, n ]
c
10/59
Let
P i = Initial 4-momentum of the photon = -- 1 n i

c
1
P f = Final 4 momentum of the photon = ----- 1 n f
c
P ei = Initial 4-momentum of the electron = m e c 0
E
P ef = Final 4-momentum of the electron = --- 1 n ef
c
Conservation of 4-momentum, tells us that
P i + P ei = P f + P ef
11/59
We can rearrange this equation in such a way that the electron

momentum drops out. First put
P ef = P i + P ei P f
then take the 4-dimensional modulus of this equation.
Remember that
1. The modulus of a vector A is given by
A 2 = A A = ( A 0 ) 2 + ( A 1 ) 2 + ( A 2 ) 2 + ( A 3 ) 2
2. The scalar product of A and B is
A B = A B = A 0 B 0 + A 1 B 1 + A 2 B 2 + A 3 B 3
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3. The magnitude of the 4-momentum of a particle is given

by:
P 2 = m 2 c 2
4. Magnitude of 4-momentum of a photon is:
P2 = 0
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Now take the modulus of the equation for P ef :

P ef 2 = P i + P ei P f 2
m e2 c 2 = P i 2 + P ei 2 + P f 2
+ 2 P i P ei 2P i P f 2 ( P ei P f )
2
2
2
2
m e c = 0 m e c + 0 + 2 -- m e c
c
1
1 1
2 -------- + -------- n n f 2 m e c -----
c
c2 i
c2
14/59
This simplifies to:

1 1
m e -------- -------- cos m e 1 = 0

c2
c2
1 [ m e c 2 + ( 1 cos ) ] =
1 = ------------------------------------------------------
1 + ------------ ( 1 cos )
m e c 2
15/59
One can see immediately from this equation that:

me c 2 1
2.3 Energy and wavelength change
The wavelength of a photon is given by:
hc
hc
= ------ = -----
The above equation for the energy can be expressed as:
16/59
1 = c ( 1 cos )
h
c = --------- = Compton wavelength of electron 0.0246 A
me c
The wavelength change after scattering is of order the Compton wavelength. For long wavelengths, c , the change in
wavelength is small compared to the initial wavelength.
Equivalently, when m e c 2 energy is conserved ( 1 = ) to
a good approximation.
The above treatment follows very closely the treatment given
in the text book Special Relativity by W. Rindler.
17/59
2.4 The Klein-Nishina cross-section

When m e c 2 as well as the relativistic effects implied by
conservation of energy and momentum, quantum mechanical
effects also change the electron cross-section from the classical value. The differential cross-section is given by the KleinNishina formula:
r 02 12 1
d KN
--------------- = ----- ----- ----- + ----- sin2

2 2 1
d
18/59
As
1
d KN
r 02
d T
1
--------------- ----- ( 2 sin2 ) = --- r 02 ( 1 + cos2 ) = ---------d
2
2
d
19/59
Integrating the above expression over solid angle gives the

following expression for the total Klein-Nishina cross-section:
3 1 + x 2x ( 1 + x )
KN = --- ------------ ----------------------- ln ( 1 + 2x )
4 x 3 1 + 2x
1
( 1 + 3x )
+ ------ ln ( 1 + 2x ) ----------------------2x
( 1 + 2x ) 2
h
x = -----------me c 2
20/59
Limits
Nonrelativistic regime ( x 1 ) :
2
26x
= T 1 2x + ------------
Extreme relativistic regime ( x 1 ) :

3
1
1
ln 2x + -- = --- T x
8
2
0 as x
That is, electrons are less efficient scatterers of high energy
photons.
21/59
3 Scattering from electrons in motion

The above applies to an electron at rest. For most applications, the electrons are moving, sometimes with relativistic
velocities so that we need to consider the details of electron
scattering in this case. We do so by extending the results for
scattering by a stationary electron to moving electrons using
a change of frame defined by the Lorentz transformation.
22/59
3.1 Rest frame and electron frame

Here we use a device that it used a lot in High Energy Astrophysics, we determine the energy transfer in an arbitrary
frame by Lorentz transforming to and from a frame in which
the electron is at rest. In this application something is the
electron.
Assume that in the rest frame ( S )
h m e c 2
so that the energy change in the rest frame can be neglected.
The photon-electron collision in the two frames is as depicted
in the following diagram:
23/59
Notation:
(lab frame)
1 = h 1
S (rest frame)
1
= h
Electron scattering in laboratory

frame and rest frame of electron
Note that all angles are measured clockwise from the
positive -axis defined by the electron velocity.
24/59
= Initial photon energy in lab frame

Angle between initial photon direction
=
and electron velocity in lab frame
= Initial photon energy in electron frame
Angle between initial photon direction
=
and electron velocity in rest frame
1 = Scattered photon energy in lab frame
1 = Scattered photon angle in lab frame
1 = Scattered photon energy in rest frame
1 = Scattered photon angle in rest frame
25/59
3.2 Transformation between frames

The frame S is the frame in which the electron is at rest. The
various angles refer to the angle between the direction of the
photon (pre- or post-collision) and the x -axis. In the lab frame
S the electron has velocity v and Lorentz factor
2 1 / 2
v
= ( 1 2 ) 1 / 2
= 1 -----
c 2
v
= -c
26/59
Recall the transformation between energies between two relatively moving frames. For massive particles:
vp
E = E 1 ------ cos
c
where E is the energy of the particle and v p is its velocity.
For photons (where we denote energy by ):
where
= ( 1 cos ) = ( 1 )
= cos
The Lorentz factor = ( 1 2 ) 1 / 2 .
27/59
The reverse and forward transformations are:

= ( 1 cos ) = ( 1 )
1 = 1 ( 1 + cos 1 ) = 1 ( 1 + 1 )
Hence, except for values of near 0 ( 1 ), the photon picks
up a factor of when we transform to the rest frame and except for values of 1 near ( 1 1 ), we pick up a further
factor of when we transform the energy of the scattered
photon back to the lab frame.
28/59
Energy gain from Thomson scattering

Assuming that Thomson scattering applies in the rest frame,
(i.e. 1 = ) then the ratios of energies in going from lab
frame to rest frame and then back to lab frame are of order
1: : 2
Hence, in being scattered by an electron, a photon increases
in energy by a factor of order 2 . Obviously for relativistic
electrons, this can be substantial.
29/59
Condition for Thomson scattering in the rest frame

Since, the energy of the photon in the rest frame is of order
, then the condition for Thomson scattering to apply in the
rest frame is:
m e c 2 h m e c 2
me c 2
h -----------
30/59
Example
Consider scattering of radio emitting photons by electrons
with a Lorentz factor of order 10 4 . First, assuming that the
Thomson limit applies in the rest frame, the typical photon
frequency produced is
2 10 8 10 9 Hz 10 17 Hz
i.e. X-ray frequencies.
31/59
Is the condition for the Thomson limit satisfied? We require

the initial soft photon energy to satisfy:
31
8 2
me c 2
9.11 10
( 3 10 )
------------ = --------------------------------------------------------- = 10 16
34
h
6.6 10
10 4
and this is easily satisfied for radio photons.
32/59
4 Emitted power resulting from inverse Compton

scattering
The scattering of photons by energetic electrons, frequently
results in a transfer of energy from the electrons to the photons. When this is the case, the process is known as inverse
Compton scattering.
33/59
4.1 Single electron power

Isotropic distribution of photons
Photons impinging on a population of electrons have a distribution of directions. For simplicity and with physical applications in mind, we consider a distribution of photons which
is isotropic in the lab frame. Let
f ( p )d 3 p = No density of photons within range d 3 p
n ( )d = No density of photons within d
In the lab frame, where the photons are assumed isotropic:
4 p 2 f ( p )dp = n ( )d
34/59
The calculation of the single electron power follows the following scheme.
Isotropic distribution of photons in
lab frame
Transform back to lab

frame and calculate
power in that frame
Anisotropic distribution of photons in

rest frame of electron
Compute power in rest

frame, using conservation of energy in rest
frame
35/59
Electron rest frame

1
We consider the geometry at

the left. Consider photons incident at an angle to the x axis which are scattered into a
range of angles indicated by
1 . Consider the incident
flux on the electron due to
photons within a region d 3 p
of momentum space, where

d 3 p = p 2 dp sin d
36/59
The number density of photons in this region of momentum

space is:
n = f ( p )d 3 p
Therefore:
Incident photon flux per unit area
= n c = cf ( p )d 3 p
per unit time
No of photons scattered per unit time = T cf ( p )d 3 p
37/59
In the rest frame the energy of the scattered photons remains

the same. Hence, the energy per unit time, i.e. the power, of
the scattered radiation contributed by a single electron, is:
P = T cf ( p )d 3 p
Integrating over all momenta in the rest frame:
P = c T f ( p )d 3 p
Transformation back to lab frame
We know that the distribution function is invariant under
Lorentz transformations:
f ( p ) = f ( p )
38/59
We also need to determine the transformation law for and

d 3 p as a result of the Lorentz transformations between S and
S . Determining the transformation of d 3 p involves determining the Jacobean of the transformation from S to S .Using
the transformations for photons derived from the 4-momentum, we have for the spatial momentum components:
39/59
p x = p x -- = ( p x p )
c
pz = pz
py = py
px
px
p
----------- = 1 --------- = 1 ------
px
p
px
px
----------py
= ( 1 cos ) = ( 1 )
py
pz
px
----------- = ----= -----p
p
pz
py
pz
----------- = ---------- = 1
py
pz
40/59
For the energy

px
= ( c p x ) = 1 ------
p
= ( 1 cos ) = ( 1 )
Jacobean of the transformation between lab momentum space and rest frame momentum space
J =
pz
py
( 1 ) ------ ----p
p
0
1
0
0
0
1
= ( 1 )
41/59
Hence,
d 3 p = ( 1 cos )d 3 p
f ( p )d 3 p = 2 ( 1 cos ) 2 f ( p )d 3 p
The power radiated in the rest frame is:
P = c T f ( p )d 3 p = c T 2 ( 1 cos ) 2 f ( p ) p 2 d p d
c T 2
= ---------------- ( 1 cos ) 2 n ( ) d sin d d
4
42/59
The integral is over variables in the lab frame where the photon distribution is isotropic.
We obtain for the power:
2
P = c T 2 1 + ------ n ( ) d
3 0
The quantity
U ph = n ( ) d
0
is the photon energy density in the lab frame.
43/59
Emitted power in the lab frame

How does the power emitted in the rest frame relate to the
power emitted in the lab frame? We can write these powers as
dE 1
P = -----------dt
dE 1
P = ---------dt
where dE 1 and dE 1 are the energies in bundles of radiation

emitted in time intervals dt and dt respectively.
From the Lorentz transformation between the electron rest
frame and the lab frame:
44/59
dx
dt = dt + ----------- = dt
c
since in the rest frame of the electron, dx = 0 .
Consider a bunch of photons emitted with energy dE 1 and
x -momentum dp x = ( dE 1 c ) cos 1 at the angle 1 . The
Lorentz transformed energy of this bunch of photons in the
lab frame is
dE 1 = ( dE 1 + cd p x ) = ( dE 1 ) ( 1 + cos 1 )
45/59
However, scatterings with cos 1 > 0 and cos 1 < 0 are

equally likely, because of the symmetry of the Thomson
cross-section, so that the averaged contribution to dE 1 is
dE 1 = dE 1
Hence the power in the lab frame is:
dE 1
dE 1
dE 1
--------------- = -------------- = -----------dt
dt
dt
That is,
P = P
46/59
Hence the scattered power in the lab frame is

2
P = c T 2 1 + ------ U ph
4.2 Number of scatterings per unit time

In the electron rest frame:
dN
--------- = Number of scatterings per unit time
dt
= c T f ( p )d 3 p
47/59
Again we transform this equation to the lab frame:

dN
--------- = c T ( 1 cos ) f ( p ) p 2 d p sin d d
dt
2c T
= -------------------- ( 1 cos )n ( ) d sin d
4
= c T N ph
where the photon number density is
N ph = n ( ) d
48/59
In transforming dN dt to the lab frame, we note that dN is

a number and so is Lorentz invariant, so that
dN
dN
1
------- = --------- = c T N ph
dt
dt
4.3 Nett energy radiated

We write the above equation as
dN
------- = c T N ph = c T n ( ) d
dt
49/59
Hence, the number of scatterings per unit time per unit photon energy by a single electron is c T n ( ) . Hence the energy
removed from photons within d is c T n ( )d . Hence, the
energy removed from the photon field is given by:
dE 1
---------- = c T n ( ) d = c T U ph
dt
50/59
Therefore, the nett energy radiated is:

dE rad
1 2
2
-------------- = P compt = c T U ph 1 + --- 1
3
dt
4
= --- T c 2 2 U ph
3
where we have used
22 = 2 1
51/59
4.4 Comparison of synchrotron and inverse Compton power

We already know that the synchrotron power of an electron
is given by
4
P synch = --- T c 2 2 U B
3
B2
U B = --------2 0
Hence,
P compton
U ph
---------------------- = ---------P synch
UB
52/59
From this expression, we can see that the inverse Compton

power can be comparable to the synchrotron power, when the
photon energy density is comparable to the magnetic energy
density. This is often the case at the bases of jets, so that these
regions are often strong X-ray emitters.
5 Inverse Compton emission from the microwave
background
A regime in which inverse Compton emission is important is
in the extended regions of radio galaxies, where the energy
density of the microwave background radiation may be comparable to the magnetic energy density.
53/59
Consider the energy density of blackbody radiation:

5k4
16
8
4
BB = aT
a = ------------------ = 7.57 10 J m 3 K 4
15h 3 c 3
This is equal to the energy density of a magnetic field when
B2
--------- = aT 4 B =
2 0
11 2
2
2 0 aT = 4.4 10 T
For the microwave background, T = 2.7 K .

Therefore, when
B < B crit = 3.2 10
10
T = 3.2G
54/59
the radiation from inverse Compton emission is more important than synchrotron radiation as an energy loss mechanism
for the electrons.
6 Inverse Compton emission from a thermal
plasma
The above expressions are derived without any restriction on
the energies of the electrons. If we consider a thermal distribution, then,
2 1
2
v
3kT
2
= ----------- = ---------mc 2
c2
55/59
Hence, the total Compton emission from a single electron is

given by:
4kT
P Compton = ---------- c T U ph
mc 2
The volume emissivity from the plasma with electron number
density n e is:
4kT
j Compton = ---------- c T n e U ph
mc 2
56/59
Compton scattering of soft photons by hot thermal electrons in the coronae of accretion disks is thought to be responsible for the X-ray emission from AGN and for the X-ray
emissivity of galactic black hole candidates.
7 Mean energy of scattered photons
By dividing the radiated power by the number of scattered
photons per unit time, we can calculate the mean energy per
scattered photon.
57/59
4
--- T c 2 2 U ph
3
1 = ------------------------------------c T N ph
4 2 2
4 2 2 U ph
= --- ---------- = ---
3
3
N ph
58/59
Inverse Compton emission from relativistic electrons

Thus for photons scattering off relativistic electrons, the
mean amplification of energy per scattering is 4 2 3 , supporting the order of magnitude estimate of 2 for this parameter.
Clearly, for relativistic electrons, the energy gain is substantial, underlining the importance of inverse Compton emission
as an astrophysical process.
59/59

5 Compton Scattering I

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5 Compton Scattering I

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Compton Scattering I

High Energy Astrophysics

2 Scattering from electrons at rest

(photons) in all directions.

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

We concentrate on the number flux of photons. Let

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

The differential cross section for Thomson scattering is:

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

The classical electron radius, r 0 , is the radius derived by

per unit area

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

The total cross-section for scattering into all solid angles is

The quantity T is the Thomson cross-section.

2.2 Quantum-mechanical particle approach

The parameters describing the collision are:

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Treatment of collision using 4-vectors

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

P i = Initial 4-momentum of the photon = -- 1 n i

We can rearrange this equation in such a way that the electron

3. The magnitude of the 4-momentum of a particle is given

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Now take the modulus of the equation for P ef :

2 -------- + -------- n n f 2 m e c -----

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

This simplifies to:

m e -------- -------- cos m e 1 = 0

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

One can see immediately from this equation that:

The above equation for the energy can be expressed as:

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

2.4 The Klein-Nishina cross-section

--------------- = ----- ----- ----- + ----- sin2

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Integrating the above expression over solid angle gives the

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Extreme relativistic regime ( x 1 ) :

3 Scattering from electrons in motion

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

3.1 Rest frame and electron frame

Electron scattering in laboratory

= Initial photon energy in lab frame

3.2 Transformation between frames

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

The Lorentz factor = ( 1 2 ) 1 / 2 .

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

The reverse and forward transformations are:

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Energy gain from Thomson scattering

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Condition for Thomson scattering in the rest frame

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

Is the condition for the Thomson limit satisfied? We require

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

4 Emitted power resulting from inverse Compton

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I

4.1 Single electron power

Transform back to lab

Anisotropic distribution of photons in

Compute power in rest

High Energy Astrophysics: Compton Scattering I