3.10.1.

Cross Sections
Consider a uniform beam of particles, all of the same mass m, energy E and
momentum mv0, incident upon a fixed center of central force. The force is assumed to
fall off sufficiently fast with distance so that the particles can be taken as free beyond
certain distance from the center of force. The incident beam is further characterized
by its intensity (flux density) I defined as
I number of particles crossing a unit area normal to the beam in unit time

of scattering into the direction is defined

The (differential) cross section

as
d per unit time
d number of particles scattered into

(3.88)
I
as d ; their cross section thus corresponds to
Note that some author write
d
our total cross section T. Let the coordinate origin be at the force center with the

,
zaxis parallel to v0. In terms of spherical coordinates, we have
, where

and are the polar and azimuthal angles, respectively. The angle is called the
scattering angle. Thus,
d sin d d
(3.89)
The characteristics (or constants) of the orbit of a given particle, and hence the
amount of its scattering, are determined by its energy E and angular momentum l.
Furthermore, since the force center is immovable, E and l are themselves constants of
the motion. For a particle far away from the force center, its perpendicular distance s
to the zaxis is called its impact parameter. Its (constant) angular momentum is
therefore
L r p r mv 0 z
In cylindrical coordinates, we have r s, , z and v 0 0,0, v0 so that
x$
L m s cos
0

y$
s sin
0

z$
z msv0 sin x$ cos y$ msv0 e$
v0

l L msv0 s 2mE

(3.90)

Once E and s (hence l ) are fixed, the scattering angle is also fixed (conservation of
L means is a constant). To proceed, we 1st assume each s leads to a distinct value of
. Assuming no particle is captured into a bounded orbit around the force center,
every incident particle will be recovered as a scattered particle far away from the
force center. Incident particles lying in the plane element sdsd will all be scattered
into some solid angle element d sin d d . Thus,

sin d d
Isdsd I

(3.91)

is always positive. Now, sin 0

where the + and sign are chosen so that
since 0 . Therefore, the + and sign applies to attractive and replusive

is independent of so that we can

forces, respectively. For central forces,
write

s ds
sin d

(3.93)