Quantum Mechanics II
Problem Set II
1. In an elastic collision between two particles of equal mass, show that the two particles come out at
right angles with respect to each other in the laboratory frame.
2. Calculate the differential cross section in the first Born approximation for a Coulomb potential
V (r) = Z1 Z2 e2 /r where Z1 e and Z2 e are charges of the projectile and target particles respectively.
3. To have a quantitative idea about the cross section derived in problem 2., consider scattering of an
alpha particle from a gold nucleus.
(i) If the scattering angle of the alpha particle in the laboratory frame is θ1 = 60o , find the scattering
angle in C.M. frame.
(ii) If the incident energy of the alpha particle is 8M ev, estimate(numerical) the cross section in
problem 2.
4. Calculate the differtial cross section in the Born approximation for the Yukawa potential V (r) =
V0 e−r/R /r. Calculate the total cross section. Find the relation between V0 and R, so that the Born
Appximation is valid.
5. Find the differential and total cross section for the scattering of slow (small velocity) particles from
a spherical delta potential V (r) = V0 δ(r − a) (use partial wave analysis). Discuss what will happen
if there is no scattering potential.
6. Consider the scattering of a particle of mass m from a hard sphere potential : V (r) = ∞ for rha and
V (r) = 0 for ria.
(i) Calculate the total cross section in the low energy limit. Find a numerical estimate for the cross
section for the case of scattering of 5M ev protons from a hard sphere of radius a = 6f m.
7. Consider the scattering of a particle of mass m from an attractive square well potential V (r) = −V0
for rha and V (r) = 0 for ria, with V0 i0. Calculate the total cross section for the low energy scattering.
8. Find the differential and total cross section in the 1st Born approximation for the elastic scattering
of a particle of mass m, which is initially travelling along the z axis, from a non-spherical double
delta potential
V (r) = V0 δ(r − ak̂) + V0 δ(r + ak̂); k̂ is the unit vector along Z-axis.
9. Consider the elastic scattering of 50M ev neutrons from a nucleus. The phase shifts measured are
δ0 = 95o , δ1 = 72o , δ2 = 60o , δ3 = 35o , δ4 = 18o , δ5 = 5o , all other phase shifts are negligible.
(i) Find the total cross section.
(ii) Estimate the radius of the nucleus.
10. Consider the elastic scattering of an electron from a hydrogen atom in its ground state. If the atom
is assumed to remain in ts ground state after scattering, calculate the differential scattering cross
section in the case where the effects resulting from the identical nature of the electron (i) are ignored
and (ii) are taken into account. Discuss for case (ii) in
(a) spin singlet state (b) spin triplet state and (c) unpolarized state.
11. In an experiment, 650M ev π 0 pions are scattered from a heavy, totally absorbing nucleus of radius
1.4f m.
(i) Estimate the total elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections.
(ii) Calculate the scattering ampitude and check the validity of the optical theorem.
(iii) Calculate the total elastic cross section from (ii) and verify that it agrees with (i).
12. Use Born approximation to calculate the differential and total cross section for scattering of a particle
0
of mass m for the delta function potential V (r) = gδ(r ).
13. Use Born approximation to find, upto a mulplicative constant, the differtial scattering cross section
2 2
for a particle of mass m moving in a repulsive potential V = Ae−r /a .
14. For an interaction V (r) = βr−1 e−αr , find the differential scatteing cross section in Born approxi-
mation. What are the conditions of its validity? Suggest one or more physical applications of this
model.
15. Consider the scattering of a 1Kev proton by a hydrogen atom. What will be the angular distribution?
16. Ramsauer and Townsend discovered that the scattering cross section for electron with an energy
of 0̃.4eV was vey much smaller than geometrical (πa2 ) for scattering by argon atoms in gaseous
form. It was also found that the cross section for 6volt electrons was 3.5 times as great as the
geometrical cross-section and that the scattering was approximately isotropic. What is the origin of
the anomalous cross section?
17. Two identical particles of spin 1/2 and mass m interact through a screened Coulomb potential
V (r) = e2 exp(−λr)/r, where 1/λ is the screening length. Each particle has a kinetic energy E in the
C.M. frame. Assume E is large and the incoming spins are oriented at random. Calculate in C.M.
frame, the scattering cross section for a particle emerging at an angle θ relative to the axis of the
incoming particles.
18. (i) find the s-wave phase shift, as a function of wave number k, for a spherically symmetric potential
which is infinitely repulsive inside of a radius r0 and vanishes outside r0 .
(ii) For k− > 0 discuss the behaviour of the phase shifts in the higher partial waves.
19. For an attractive square well potential (V = −V0 , rha; V = 0, ria), find the ‘matching equation’ at a
positive energy, which determines the energy dependence of the l = 0 phase shift δ0 . From this show
that at higher energies δ(k0− > maV
h̄2 k
0
and obtain the result from the Born approximation.
20. The amplitude for a 2 particle scattering process is given as f (θ) = a + b cos2 θ in C.M. frame.
dσ
Calculate dΩ when two fermions are in spin singlet and spin triplet states.
