Lecture 15

Antimatter in the Milky Way

! ! + " +
+ #
e e
Lecture 15
Applications in Modern Medicine
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan
A medical diagnostic to study the path and location of a
position-emitting radioactive chemical that has been
injected into the human body.
! ! + " +
+ #
e e
Lecture 15
As particles, not only can photons transfer their energy to
other normal particles, they can also transfer their
momentum during interactions, e.g., collisions.
Compton effect: in a collision a photon loses its energy to
an electron. The effect manifests itself observationally in
the increase of the wavelength of the radiation after the
collision.
Inverse Compton effect: in a collision a photon gains
energy from an electron, i.e., the wavelength of the
radiation decreases after the collision.
The Compton Effect
Lecture 15
Photon-Electron Collision
incident photon
h!
0
, h!
0
/c
"
$
scattered photon
h!, h!/c
recoiling electron
E
e
, p
e

Assuming that the incident photons all have the same frequency
(monochromatic) and the target electrons are initially at rest in
the laboratory frame, the final products include scattered photons
and recoiling electrons, as shown.
Lecture 15
Momentum Conservation
"
$
p
0
p
p
e

Momentum conservation:
e
p p p
! ! "
+ =
0
! cos 2
0
2
0
2 2
pp p p p
e
" + =
c
h
p
c
h
p
! !
= = ,
0
0
Since
Lecture 15
Energy Conservation
!
!
" " " "
cos ) )( ( 2 ) ( ) (
cos 2
0
2 2
0
2 2
0
2 2
0
2
hv hv hv hv c p
c
h
c
h
c
h
c
h
p
e
e
# + =
$
%
&
'
(
)
$
%
&
'
(
)
#
$
%
&
'
(
)
+
$
%
&
'
(
)
=
we have
Energy conservation:
2
0 0
2
0 0
) ( c m hv hv E E hv c m hv
e e
+ ! = " + = +
Lecture 15
Putting All Together
4 2
0
0
2
0 0
2 2
0
4 2
0 0
2
0
2
0
2
) ( 2 ) )( ( 2 ) ( ) (
) ( 2 ) (
c m
hv hv c m hv hv hv hv
c m hv hv c m hv hv E
e
+
! + ! + =
+ ! + ! =
4 2
0
0
2 2
0
4 2
0
2 2
cos ) )( ( 2 ) ( ) (
c m
hv hv hv hv c m c p
e
+
! + = + "
We have already had
Lecture 15
We Have
) cos 1 )( )( ( 2 ) ( 2
0 0
2
0
! " = " hv hv hv hv c m
4 2
0
2 2 2
c m c p E
e e
+ =
) cos 1 (
0 0 0
0
! " = " =
"
c m
h
v
c
v
c
c
v v
v v
) cos 1 (
0
0
! " " # = #
c m
h
Lecture 15
Compton Wavelength
A
c m
h
c
024 . 0
0
= ! "
) cos 1 (
0
! " " " # = #
c
The wavelength of photons that are scattered by 90 degrees
is increased by one Compton wavelength.
The wavelength of photons that are scattered by 180 degrees
(i.e., head-on collisions) is increased by twice the Compton
wavelength
The Compton effect does not depend on the wavelength of
the incident light, so it is more observable when the light
of shorter wavelength (e.g., X-ray or gamma ray) is used.
Lecture 15
Experimental Setup
"
$
X- or %-ray
source
target
X- or %-ray counter
electron counter
Lecture 15
Experimental Data
Lecture 15
Explanation
Detection of the Compton effect in the scattered photons
and verification of the angular dependence of the
wavelength of the scattered photons
Detection of photons of original wavelength, which are
the result of incident photons being scattered elastically
by tightly bound electrons.
Detection of recoiling electrons and verification of the
angular dependence of the kinetic energy of the electrons
and the correlation between the scattering angles of
electrons and photons
Lecture 15
Useful Facts
( )
! " "
! "
"
#
"
!
2 2 2
2
2
0
cos ) 1 (
cos 2
,
2
cot
1
1
tan
$ +
=
=
%
&
'
(
)
*
+
=
hv E
c m
hv
where
K
Properties of recoiling electrons:
In certain energy ranges, in particular for medium-hard X-rays,
the Compton effect is the principle cause of scattering and
attenuation of radiation in matter.
In Compton scattering, the incident and the scattered radiation
are incoherent relative to each other.