Compton scattering

Compton scattering, discovered by Arthur Holly Compton, is the scattering of a photon after an interaction with
a charged particle, usually an electron. If it results in a decrease in energy (increase in wavelength) of the
photon (which may be an X-ray or gamma ray photon), it is called the Compton effect. Part of the energy of
the photon is transferred to the recoiling electron. Inverse Compton scattering occurs when a charged particle
transfers part of its energy to a photon.

Introduction

Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of Compton's experiment. Compton scattering occurs in the graphite target on the left. The slit passes X-
ray photons scattered at a selected angle. The energy of a scattered photon is measured using Bragg scattering in the crystal on
the right in conjunction with ionization chamber; the chamber could measure total energy deposited over time, not the energy of
single scattered photons.
Compton scattering is an example of inelastic scattering[1] of light by a free charged particle, where the
wavelength of the scattered light is different from that of the incident radiation. In Compton's original
experiment (see Fig. 1), the energy of the X ray photon (≈17 keV) was very much larger than the binding
energy of the atomic electron, so the electrons could be treated as being free after scattering. The amount by
which the light's wavelength changes is called the Compton shift. Although nucleus Compton scattering exists,[2]
Compton scattering usually refers to the interaction involving only the electrons of an atom. The Compton effect
was observed by Arthur Holly Compton in 1923 at Washington University in St. Louis and further verified by his
graduate student Y. H. Woo in the years following. Compton earned the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for the
discovery.

The effect is significant because it demonstrates that light cannot be explained purely as a wave
phenomenon. [3]Thomson scattering, the classical theory of an electromagnetic wave scattered by charged
particles, cannot explain shifts in wavelength at low intensity: classically, light of sufficient intensity for the
electric field to accelerate a charged particle to a relativistic speed will cause radiation-pressure recoil and
an associated Doppler shift of the scattered light,[4] but the effect would become arbitrarily small at
sufficiently low light intensities regardless of wavelength. Thus, light behaves as if it consists of particles, if we
are to explain low-intensity Compton scattering. Or the assumption that the electron can be treated as free is
invalid resulting in the effectively infinite electron mass equal to the nuclear mass (see e.g. the comment below
on elastic scattering of X-rays being from that effect). Compton's experiment convinced physicists that light can
be treated as a stream of particle-like objects (quanta called photons), whose energy is proportional to the
light wave's frequency.

As shown in Fig. 2, the interaction between an electron and a photon results in the electron being given part of
the energy (making it recoil), and a photon of the remaining energy being emitted in a different direction from
the original, so that the overall momentum of the system is also conserved. If the scattered photon still has
enough energy, the process may be repeated. In this scenario, the electron is treated as free or loosely bound.
Experimental verification of momentum conservation in individual Compton scattering processes by Bothe and
Geiger as well as by Compton and Simon has been important in disproving the BKS theory.

Compton scattering is one of four competing processes when photons interact with matter. At energies of a few
eV to a few keV, corresponding to visible light through soft X-rays, a photon can be completely absorbed and
its energy can eject an electron from its host atom, a process known as the photoelectric effect. High-energy
photons of 1.022 MeV and above may bombard the nucleus and cause an electron and a positron to be
formed, a process called pair production; even-higher-energy photons (beyond a threshold energy of at least
1.670 MeV, depending on the nuclei involved), can eject a nucleon or alpha particle from the nucleus in a
process called photodisintegration. Compton scattering is the most important interaction in the intervening
energy region, at photon energies greater than those typical of the photoelectric effect but less than the pair-
production threshold.

Description of the phenomenon

Fig. 2: A photon of wavelength comes in from the left, collides with a target at rest, and a new photon of wavelength emerges
at an angle . The target recoils, carrying away an angle-dependent amount of the incident energy.

By the early 20th century, research into the interaction of X-rays with matter was well under way. It was
observed that when X-rays of a known wavelength interact with atoms, the X-rays are scattered through an
angle and emerge at a different wavelength related to . Although classical electromagnetism predicted that
the wavelength of scattered rays should be equal to the initial wavelength,[5] multiple experiments had found
that the wavelength of the scattered rays was longer (corresponding to lower energy) than the initial
wavelength.[5]

In 1923, Compton published a paper in the Physical Review that explained the X-ray shift by attributing
particle-like momentum to light quanta (Einstein had proposed light quanta in 1905 in explaining the photo-
electric effect, but Compton did not build on Einstein's work). The energy of light quanta depends only on the
frequency of the light. In his paper, Compton derived the mathematical relationship between the shift in
wavelength and the scattering angle of the X-rays by assuming that each scattered X-ray photon interacted
with only one electron. His paper concludes by reporting on experiments which verified his derived relation:

where
is the initial wavelength,

is the wavelength after scattering,

 is the Planck constant,

is the electron rest mass,

is the speed of light, and

is the scattering angle.

The quantity mhc is known as the Compton wavelength of the electron; it is equal to 2.43 × 10−12 m. The
e
wavelength shift λ′ − λ is at least zero (for θ = 0°) and at most twice the Compton wavelength of the electron
(for θ = 180°).

Compton found that some X-rays experienced no wavelength shift despite being scattered through large angles;
in each of these cases the photon failed to eject an electron.[5] Thus the magnitude of the shift is related not to
the Compton wavelength of the electron, but to the Compton wavelength of the entire atom, which can be
upwards of 10000 times smaller. This is known as "coherent" scattering off the entire atom since the atom
remains intact, gaining no internal excitation.

In Compton's original experiments the wavelength shift given above was the directly-measurable observable. In
modern experiments it is conventional to measure the energies, not the wavelengths, of the scattered photons.
For a given incident energy , the outgoing final-state photon energy, , is given by

Derivation of the scattering formula

Fig. 3: Energies of a photon at 500 keV and an electron after Compton scattering.

A photon γ with wavelength λ collides with an electron e in an atom, which is treated as being at rest. The
collision causes the electron to recoil, and a new photon γ' with wavelength λ' emerges at angle θ from the
photon's incoming path. Let e' denote the electron after the collision. Compton allowed for the possibility that
the interaction would sometimes accelerate the electron to speeds sufficiently close to the velocity of light as
to require the application of Einstein's special relativity theory to properly describe its energy and momentum.

At the conclusion of Compton's 1923 paper, he reported results of experiments confirming the predictions of his
scattering formula, thus supporting the assumption that photons carry momentum as well as quantized energy. At
the start of his derivation, he had postulated an expression for the momentum of a photon from equating
Einstein's already established mass-energy relationship of to the quantized photon energies of ,
which Einstein had separately postulated. If , the equivalent photon mass must be . The
photon's momentum is then simply this effective mass times the photon's frame-invariant velocity c. For a
photon, its momentum , and thus hf can be substituted for pc for all photon momentum terms which
arise in course of the derivation below. The derivation which appears in Compton's paper is more terse, but
follows the same logic in the same sequence as the following derivation.

The conservation of energy merely equates the sum of energies before and after scattering.

Compton postulated that photons carry momentum;[5] thus from the conservation of momentum, the momenta of
the particles should be similarly related by

in which ( ) is omitted on the assumption it is effectively zero.

The photon energies are related to the frequencies by

where h is Planck's constant.

Before the scattering event, the electron is treated as sufficiently close to being at rest that its total energy
consists entirely of the mass-energy equivalence of its (rest) mass ,

After scattering, the possibility that the electron might be accelerated to a significant fraction of the speed of
light, requires that its total energy be represented using the relativistic energy–momentum relation
Substituting these quantities into the expression for the conservation of energy gives

This expression can be used to find the magnitude of the momentum of the scattered electron,

 
 

 
 
(1)
Note that this magnitude of the momentum gained by the electron (formerly zero) exceeds the energy/c lost
by the photon,

Equation (1) relates the various energies associated with the collision. The electron's momentum change involves
a relativistic change in the energy of the electron, so it is not simply related to the change in energy occurring
in classical physics. The change of the magnitude of the momentum of the photon is not just related to the
change of its energy; it also involves a change in direction.

Solving the conservation of momentum expression for the scattered electron's momentum gives

Making use of the scalar product yields the square of its magnitude,

In anticipation of being replaced with , multiply both sides by ,

After replacing the photon momentum terms with , we get a second expression for the magnitude of the
momentum of the scattered electron,

 
 

 
 
(2)

Equating the alternate expressions for this momentum gives

which, after evaluating the square and canceling and rearranging terms, further yields

Dividing both sides by yields

 λ λ
Finally, since f = f ' ' = c,

 
 

 
 
(3)

It can further be seen that the angle φ of the outgoing electron with the direction of the incoming photon is
specified by

(4)
 

   
 

Applications

Compton scattering

Compton scattering is of prime importance to radiobiology, as it is the most probable interaction of gamma rays
and high energy X-rays with atoms in living beings and is applied in radiation therapy. [6]

In material physics, Compton scattering can be used to probe the wave function of the electrons in matter in the
momentum representation.[7]

Compton scattering is an important effect in gamma spectroscopy which gives rise to the Compton edge, as it is
possible for the gamma rays to scatter out of the detectors used. Compton suppression is used to detect stray
scatter gamma rays to counteract this effect.

Magnetic Compton scattering

Magnetic Compton scattering is an extension of the previously mentioned technique which involves the
magnetisation of a crystal sample hit with high energy, circularly polarised photons. By measuring the scattered
photons' energy and reversing the magnetisation of the sample, two different Compton profiles are generated
(one for spin up momenta and one for spin down momenta). Taking the difference between these two profiles
gives the magnetic Compton profile (MCP), given by - a one-dimensional projection of the electron
spin density.
where is the number of spin-unpaired electrons in the system, and are the three-dimensional
electron momentum distributions for the majority spin and minority spin electrons respectively.

Since this scattering process is incoherent (there is no phase relationship between the scattered photons), the
MCP is representative of the bulk properties of the sample and is a probe of the ground state. This means that
the MCP is ideal for comparison with theoretical techniques such as density functional theory.
The area under
the MCP is directly proportional to the spin moment of the system and so, when combined with total moment
measurements methods (such as SQUID magnetometry), can be used to isolate both the spin and orbital
contributions to the total moment of a system.
The shape of the MCP also yields insight into the origin of the
magnetism in the system.[8]

Inverse Compton scattering

Inverse Compton scattering is important in astrophysics. In X-ray astronomy, the accretion disk surrounding a
black hole is presumed to produce a thermal spectrum. The lower energy photons produced from this spectrum
are scattered to higher energies by relativistic electrons in the surrounding corona. This is surmised to cause the
power law component in the X-ray spectra (0.2–10 keV) of accreting black holes.[9]

The effect is also observed when photons from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) move through the hot
gas surrounding a galaxy cluster. The CMB photons are scattered to higher energies by the electrons in this gas,
resulting in the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect. Observations of the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect provide a nearly
redshift-independent means of detecting galaxy clusters.

Some synchrotron radiation facilities scatter laser light off the stored electron beam.
This Compton
backscattering produces high energy photons in the MeV to GeV range[10][11] subsequently used for nuclear
physics experiments.

Non-linear inverse Compton scattering

Non-linear inverse Compton scattering (NICS) is the scattering of multiple low-energy photons, given by an
intense electromagnetic field, in a high-energy photon (X-ray or gamma ray) during the interaction with a
charged particle, such as an electron.[12] It is also called non-linear Compton scattering and multiphoton
Compton scattering. It is the non-linear version of inverse Compton scattering in which the conditions for
multiphoton absorption by the charged particle are reached thanks to a very intense electromagnetic field, for
example the one produced by a laser.[13]

Non-linear inverse Compton scattering is an interesting phenomenon for all applications requiring high-energy
photons since NICS is capable of producing photons with energy comparable to the charged particle rest
energy and higher.[14] As a consequence NICS photons can be used to trigger other phenomena such as pair
production, Compton scattering, nuclear reactions, and can be used to probe non-linear quantum effects and
non-linear QED. [12]

See also

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

Klein–Nishina formula

Pair production

Peter Debye

Photoelectric effect

Radiation pressure

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering

Thomson scattering

Timeline of cosmic microwave background astronomy

Non-linear inverse Compton scattering

References

1. Elastic or inelastic scattering? The incident photon loses energy in the lab frame, which centuries of practice had identified
with inelastic scattering—even though, in the c.m. frame, the respective masses remaining the same, no new species are
created and kinetic energy is conserved, the mark of an elastic collision. As a result, HEP and nuclear physicists prefer to
emphasize elasticity, while atomic and molecular physicists use "inelastic".

2. P. Christillin (1986). "Nuclear Compton scattering" (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0305-4616/12/9/008/

meta) . J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phys. 12 (9): 837–851. Bibcode:1986JPhG...12..837C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986JP
hG...12..837C) . doi:10.1088/0305-4616/12/9/008 (https://doi.org/10.1088%2F0305-4616%2F12%2F9%2F008) .

3. Griffiths, David (1987). Introduction to Elementary Particles. Wiley. pp. 15, 91. ISBN 0-471-60386-4.

4. C. Moore (1995). "Observation of the Transition from Thomson to Compton Scattering in Optical Multiphoton Interactions with
Electrons" (http://www.lle.rochester.edu/media/publications/documents/theses/Moore.pdf) (PDF).

5. Taylor, J.R.; Zafiratos, C.D.; Dubson, M.A. (2004). Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall.
pp. 136–9. ISBN 0-13-805715-X.
 6. Camphausen KA, Lawrence RC. "Principles of Radiation Therapy" (http://www.cancernetwork.com/cancer-management-1
1/chapter02/article/10165/1399960) in Pazdur R, Wagman LD, Camphausen KA, Hoskins WJ (Eds) Cancer Management:
A Multidisciplinary Approach (http://www.cancernetwork.com/cancer-management-11/) . 11 ed. 2008.

7. I. G. Kaplan; B. Barbiellini & A. Bansil (2003). "Compton scattering beyond the impulse approximation". Physical Review B.
68 (23): 235104. arXiv:cond-mat/0304294 (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0304294) .
Bibcode:2003PhRvB..68w5104K (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003PhRvB..68w5104K) .
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.68.235104 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevB.68.235104) . S2CID 17559735 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:17559735) .

8. Malcolm Cooper (14 October 2004). X-Ray Compton Scattering (https://books.google.com/books?id=m58jXIJDs3QC) .

OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-850168-8. Retrieved 4 March 2013.

9. Dr. Tortosa, Alessia. "Comptonization mechanisms in hot coronae in AGN. The NuSTAR view" (http://www.matfis.uniroma3.it/All
egati/Dottorato/TESI/tortosa/tesi_PhD_Tortosa_Alessia.pdf) (PDF). DIPARTIMENTO DI MATEMATICA E FISICA.

10. "GRAAL home page" (http://www.lnf.infn.it/~levisand/graal/graal.html) . Lnf.infn.it. Retrieved 2011-11-08.

11. "Duke University TUNL HIGS Facility" (https://tunl.duke.edu/research/our-facilities) . Retrieved 2021-01-31.

12. Di Piazza, A.; Müller, C.; Hatsagortsyan, K. Z.; Keitel, C. H. (2012-08-16). "Extremely high-intensity laser interactions with
fundamental quantum systems" (https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.84.1177) . Reviews of Modern Physics. 84
(3): 1177–1228. arXiv:1111.3886 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1111.3886) . Bibcode:2012RvMP...84.1177D (https://ui.adsab
s.harvard.edu/abs/2012RvMP...84.1177D) . doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.84.1177 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FRevModPhys.
84.1177) . ISSN 0034-6861 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0034-6861) . S2CID 118536606 (https://api.semanticscho
lar.org/CorpusID:118536606) .

13. Meyerhofer, D.D. (1997). "High-intensity-laser-electron scattering" (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/641308) . IEEE

Journal of Quantum Electronics. 33 (11): 1935–1941. Bibcode:1997IJQE...33.1935M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/19
97IJQE...33.1935M) . doi:10.1109/3.641308 (https://doi.org/10.1109%2F3.641308) .

14. Ritus, V. I. (1985). "Quantum effects of the interaction of elementary particles with an intense electromagnetic field" (htt
p://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01120220) . Journal of Soviet Laser Research. 6 (5): 497–617.
doi:10.1007/BF01120220 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF01120220) . ISSN 0270-2010 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/
0270-2010) . S2CID 121183948 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:121183948) .

Further reading

S. Chen; H. Avakian; V. Burkert; L. Vandenaweele; P. Eugenio; the CLAS collaboration; Ambrozewicz;

Anghinolfi; Asryan; Bagdasaryan; Baillie; Ball; Baltzell; Barrow; Batourine; Battaglieri; Beard; Bedlinskiy;
Bektasoglu; Bellis; Benmouna; Berman; Biselli; Bonner; Bouchigny; Boiarinov; Bosted; Bradford; Branford;
et al. (2006). "Measurement of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering with a Polarized Proton Target". Physical
Review Letters. 97 (7): 072002. arXiv:hep-ex/0605012 (https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ex/0605012) .
 Bibcode:2006PhRvL..97g2002C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006PhRvL..97g2002C) .
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.072002 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevLett.97.072002) .
PMID 17026221 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17026221) . S2CID 15326395 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:15326395) .

Compton, Arthur H. (May 1923). "A Quantum Theory of the Scattering of X-Rays by Light Elements" (https://do
i.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.21.483) . Physical Review. 21 (5): 483–502. Bibcode:1923PhRv...21..483C (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1923PhRv...21..483C) . doi:10.1103/PhysRev.21.483 (https://doi.org/10.
1103%2FPhysRev.21.483) . (the original 1923 paper on the APS website)

Stuewer, Roger H. (1975), The Compton Effect: Turning Point in Physics (New York: Science History Publications)

External links

Compton Scattering (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/quantum/comptint.html) – Georgia State

University

Compton Scattering Data (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/quantum/compdat.html#c1) –

Georgia State University

Derivation of Compton shift equation (http://www.miniphysics.com/derivation-of-compton-shift-equation.ht

ml)

Compton Scattering – Animation made by BIGS (https://bigs.de/physik-animationen/quantenphysik/quantelu

ng-der-strahlung/comptoneffekt/)

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