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Problems - Compton Effects

- For a photon to produce an electron-positron pair through Compton scattering, the scattering angle must be less than 60 degrees. If the angle is greater than 60 degrees, the outgoing photon wavelength would be too long to satisfy the minimum energy threshold for pair production. - The minimum energy a photon needs to produce an electron-positron pair in the presence of a stationary nucleus is 2mc2(1 + m/M), where m is the electron mass and M is the nucleus mass. For a proton nucleus, the minimum energy is approximately 2mc2(1 + me/mp). - A single photon cannot be produced after pair annihilation because it would violate conservation of momentum in the center of mass

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Neelam Kapoor
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587 views

Problems - Compton Effects

- For a photon to produce an electron-positron pair through Compton scattering, the scattering angle must be less than 60 degrees. If the angle is greater than 60 degrees, the outgoing photon wavelength would be too long to satisfy the minimum energy threshold for pair production. - The minimum energy a photon needs to produce an electron-positron pair in the presence of a stationary nucleus is 2mc2(1 + m/M), where m is the electron mass and M is the nucleus mass. For a proton nucleus, the minimum energy is approximately 2mc2(1 + me/mp). - A single photon cannot be produced after pair annihilation because it would violate conservation of momentum in the center of mass

Uploaded by

Neelam Kapoor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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17.

Show that, regardless of its initial energy, a photon cannot undergo Compton scattering through an angle
of more than 60 and still be able to produce an electron-positron pair. (Hint: Start by expressing the
Compton wavelength of the electron in terms of the maximum photon wavelength needed for pair
production.) (Beiser, Ex. 41, pg. 91)
Solution

Alternative explanation:
In other words you are asked to prove that after Compton scattering, the outgoing wavelength
of the photon must satisfy

hc
2me c 2 when the scattered angle 60o .

This can be easily shown as follow:

h
hc
hc
1 cos 2 1 cos 2 1 cos
me c
me c
me c

It is then easily seen that if 60o , 1 cos >1/2

hc
hc
1 cos
2
me c
2me c 2
hc

2me c 2

18 a) Verily that the minimum energy a photon must have to create an electron-positron pair in the presence
of a stationary nucleus of mass M is 2mc2(l + m/M), where m is the electron rest mass. (b) Find the
minimum energy needed for pair production in the presence of a proton. (Beiser, Ex. 42, pg. 91)

Solution

Alternative solution:
The process is: M M e e .

Conservation of momentum: p pM pM pe pe , where pM = 0 because the initial state

(i.e. before the scattering) of the heavy nucleus is at rest. pM refers to momentum of the
nucleus after the process, and is generally non-zero.

Conservation of energy: E EM EM Ee Ee

If E is minimal, the kinetic energies of e would be zero, hence, pe , pe shall vanish. The
conservation of momentum then reduces to

p ,min p M ,
(0)
and the conservation of energy reduces to
E ,min Mc 2 EM 2mc 2
(1)
2
since Ee mc (the electron-positron pair has no kinetic energy).

From Eq. (1), we get


cp ,min Mc 2 EM 2mc 2

Energy-momentum invariant relates EM


EM2 pM2 c 2 M 2 c 4 .
Hence, Eq. (2) is recast into the form
cp ,min Mc 2

p M2 c 2 M 2 c 4 2mc 2

(2)

to pM via

p2,min c 2 M 2 c 4 2mc 2 .

(3)

The second step is due to the conservation of momentum, Eq. (0).


Solve Eq. (3) for p ,min (using binomial expansion)

cp

Mc 2 2mc 2

,min

p2,min c 2 M 2 c 4

LHS cp ,min Mc 2 2mc 2


RHS p

2
, min

c M c
2

c 2 p2,min Mc 2 2mc 2

M 2 c 4 Mc 2 2mc 2

2 Mc 2 2mc 2

4 Mmc 4 4m 2 c 4

2 Mc 2 2mc 2

m
2m
m
m
2
2mc 1
2
1
2mc 1

M
M
M

2cp ,min Mc 2 2mc 2

LHS RHS 2 Mc 2 2mc 2 cp ,min Mc 2 2mc 2


cp ,min

M 2c 4 0

2mc 2 1

2mc 2 1 m 1 2m

2m
M
M

2mc 2 1 m

18. Why is it in a pair annihilation the resultant photons cannot be singly produced?
Solution
It is the conservation of linear momentum that prohibits such a singly photon production after pair
annihilation. Consider in a CM frame where the total linear momentum of the electron-positron pair is
zero. If only a single photon is produced, then the total linear momentum in the CM frame after the
annihilation will no more be zero. The linear momentum of a single photon shall not be cancelled off
unless there is another photon being produced simultaneously (in an back-to-back manner) after the
annihilation. Since such a process cannot happen in a CM frame it could also no happen in any other
frame of reference due to postulate of Special Relativity.

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