Scattering theory (Q5917944)

The author presents a modern and concise review of the scattering theory. The book starts with a chapter on the classical theory describing the scattering of a projectile particle from a target particle. The relation between the classical and quantum mechanics and the behaviour of quantum systems in the semiclassical or anticlassical sense are subjects of interest. The second chapter gives a detailed quantum mechanical description of elastic scattering by a conservative potential. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the large-distance behaviour of the interaction potential. The third chapter generalizes this ansatz to arbitrary internal excitations, which enables a description of inelastic scattering via appropriate coupled-channel equations. This chapter contains also the theory of Feshbach resonances, as opposed to single-channel shape resonances, and an account of multichannel quantum-defect theory. Chapter 4 addresses some special topics which are particularly relevant to the current research involving cold atoms and molecules. The last section treats briefly the two-dimensional scattering which exhibits significant differences to the 3D case, in particular in the low-energy near-threshold regime. The level of abstraction is kept as low as possible, and the mathematical foundations of the scattering theory are passed by. The book is intended for advanced students and researchers with a basic knowledge of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics.