Lecture 20: Born Series and the first Born Approximation

(first finishing the last part of Lecture 19)

Deriving Born series using Greens functions

Applications of the first Born approximation

How to solve for the scattering solution from the Lippmann-Schwinger equation?

general form:

in coordinate representation for large r (already derived)

We work on the general operator equation, which is clearer and more convenient:

One may obtain the same Born series if we iterate the Lippmann-Schwinger equation by first assuming a weak scattering potential

The first Born approximation (retaining only the n=1 term in Born series)

Compare this with the exact Lippmann-Schwinger equation

The essence of the first Born approximation is to replace the exact scattering solution on the right side of L-S equation by the known solution without the scattering potential !

The first Born approximation in the coordinate representation:

From

We will replace

on the right by

with

All scattering information is then approximately obtained

First special case for 1st Born approximation: low energy scattering

For very low energy scattering, k or k is very small, so the factor could be taken as unity. Then

Note however, in low energy cases, the first Born approximation is probably is a bad approximation, because the scattering potential is no longer weak as compared with the energy of the incoming state.

Second special case for 1st Born approximation: spherically symmetric systems k-k k

Re-writing the final result:

k-k k

Example: Scattering in Yukawa potential

Plug this potential into our general formula

Total cross section for the Yukawa potential with 1st Born approximation

change of variable:

What happens to the differential and total cross sections if we let u0 ?

(Rutherfold formula)

and why?

Concluding remarks:
Using the Greens function formalism, it is straightforward to derive the Born series for quantum scattering problems. The Born series can be regarded as a time-independent perturbation theory for systems in the continuum.

For spherically symmetric system, the first Born approximation takes a rather simple form and is very useful for predicting quantum scattering properties (if the scattering energy is sufficiently large).