What is the best way to describe the interaction of a free electron that is deflected by an atom but not captured?
Apart from the unaffected electron that moves far enough away from the atom and an impacting electron, surely there must be an area in which electric and magnetic fields should play a role?
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HolgerFiedler
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2What ways have you tried or know? – naturallyInconsistent Dec 05 '23 at 04:52
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@naturallyInconsistent Sorry, none. I am not a physicist. And certainly not a trained one. That's why I'm asking. – HolgerFiedler Dec 05 '23 at 05:12
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@HolgerFiedler, perhaps you need to give more background. There are books written on atomic physics. Do you want a reference, or do you expect someone to copy-paste it here? If you are not a physicist (your rating is a bit confusing then), then perhaps you have a specific issue you are trying to address - it might be better to start with that. One of the earliest scattering experiments, such as you describe, I can remember is Rutherford's experiment. You could start there – Cryo Dec 05 '23 at 06:08
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@Cryo refering to the famousiest mystery of physics, the double slit experiment, will be a red flag for some forents. Remark. I‘m happy here because PSE is the best forum. – HolgerFiedler Dec 05 '23 at 06:22
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@HolgerFiedler, not sure double-slit, or any other collapse-type thing is as mysterious as some people try to make it be. Is it any more mysterious than Maxwell equations? Anyway, for double slit you probably want some quantum theory books like Griffiths, Balentine or Weinberg – Cryo Dec 05 '23 at 06:53
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Merzbacher is also good IMHO. Also, you may want to look at diffraction, and in particular at electron diffraction literature – Cryo Dec 05 '23 at 06:54
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1I think your best bet is to read a quantum mechanics textbook until it gets to scattering. Griffiths "Introduction to quantum mechanics" is my recommendation. IMO the only proper answer to this question would just be a summary of the scattering chapter of any standard quantum mechanics textbook. – AXensen Dec 05 '23 at 07:54
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@Cryo Beside the Rutherford‘s experiment I read about Möllenstedt and asked Relationship between the material properties of an edge and the fringes behind this edge and the biprizm experiment Hans Boersch. – HolgerFiedler Dec 06 '23 at 03:29
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the "standard picture" is that charged particles interact via the exchange of what are called virtual photons. According to this mechanism, the incoming electron tosses a virtual photon at the atom and they both recoil. That photon serves as the force carrier between the two of them.
The photon-as-force-carrier cannot be directly detected while this process is occurring which is why it is referred to as "virtual". Some physicists consider the virtual photon as an artifice without real existence, which is used in calculations for convenience.
niels nielsen
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