62

SCATTERING

where the constant has been chosen to have (r) normalized to 1; remember that the charge Ze2 was factored out, see Equation (2.40), and a is a measure of the radius of the charge distribution of the atomic electrons. By substitution of Equation (2.52) in Equation (2.51) we get F(q) = e(qa/2)
2

(2.53)

with q2 = q2 given by Equation (2.50). It is seen that the Form Factor is actually a function of q2 , so we write for the Form Factor: F(q2 ). Although this charge distribution is not a realistic one for all atoms, it has the important properties that it is localized as atomic electrons are, and that it allows us to do the integral Equation (2.51). We see from Equation (2.53) that there are two limiting regions: (qa)2 1 and (qa)2 1. The region (qa)2 1 or q 1/a is the region of soft scattering of the incident electron by the atom. Small q2 means according to Equation (2.50) that the scattering angle is small too, and the incident electron will hardly deviate from its original direction (a grazing collision). From Equation (2.53) we see that F(0) is near 1, and from Equation (2.48) that the scattering amplitude f ( , ) is small. Therefore, with Equation (2.5) the cross section is small and the scattering is correctly called soft. A Form Factor of 1 means that the incident electron sees the atomic electrons as a single point charge as we saw before when we set the charge distribution of the atoms nucleus to 3 (x), see Equation (2.47). When q2 is very small, the nucleus and the atomic electrons both present themselves to the incident electron as point charges located at x = 0, exactly canceling each others positive and negative charges, and we do not resolve the charge of the nucleus from the charge of the atomic electrons. This is according to our remarks at the beginning of Section 2.1 where we talked about the wavelength of the incident particle and its relation to probing the structure of the target. The wavelength of the probe is = 1/q and in a soft collision q 1/a so a so the wavelength of the probe is very large relative to the radius of the target, the form factor equals 1, and we learn little about the internal structure of the target. On the other hand (qa)2 1 or q 1/a is the region of hard scattering of the incident electron by the atom. Large q means that according to Equation (2.50) the scattering angle is also large (up to , backward scattering) and the incident electron will deviate substantially from its incident direction. From Equation (2.53) we see that F(q) = 1 and that we are sensitive to the functional dependence of F on q2 and that the scattering amplitude in Equation (2.48) is not small. Therefore, with Equation (2.5) the cross section is not small. By measuring the cross section and inferring the scattering amplitude from it, we can determine the form factor and obtain information about the charge distribution in the target, resolving the nuclear charge from the charge distribution of the atomic electrons, and