Eikonal expansion in electron scattering

We extend a previously developed eikonal expansion method to the case of high-energy electron scattering from dynamic nuclei. Nuclear degrees of freedom can be included either by a DWBA-like expansion or by neglecting the nuclear excitation energies. The latter approach is considered in detail and applied to the elastic and inelastic scattering from deformed nuclei. The impact parameterT-matrix is calculated by diagonalizing the inelastic zeroth-order and first-order eikonal phases in the subspace of the nuclear rotational levels; static eikonal phases are included up to second order. For¹⁵²Sm,¹⁵⁴Sm coupled-channel calculations including three and four rotational states show large multi-step effects for the 0⁺→4⁺ and the 0⁺→6⁺ excitations compared to DWBA results.     

Eikonal expansion in electron scattering: I. Elastic scattering

A systematic eikonal expansion for the scattering of high-energy electrons from nuclei is derived which starts from the iterated Dirac equation. The resulting scattering amplitude is written in an impact parameter representation depending on eikonal phases which are proportional to inverse powers of the energy. The first two correction terms to the leading Glauber-Baker amplitude are calculated. For a Coulomb potential they agree with a sinθ-expansion of the relativistic Coulomb scattering amplitude. In the case of scattering from an extended charge distribution at sufficiently high energies numerical partial wave calculations are accurately reproduced.     

Eikonal description of nucleon-nucleon polarizations

Nucleon-nucleon elastic polarization data are analyzed within an eikonal framework in the range 6?plab?45 GeV/c and |t| 2.5 GeV/V². The isovector component is found to be dominated by a nearly exchange degenerate ρ-A₂ contribution while the isoscalar part requires both a lower lying Regge-pole exchange and an asymptotic pomeron contribution.     

Eikonal Approximation for Intermediate Coupling

The eikonal approximation for intermediate coupling is studied.It is shown that the accuracy of the eikonal approximation is dependent on the shape of potentials.     

Eikonal description of quantal scattering

Elastic and inelastic quantal scattering is described by a theory in which the contribution of a range of impact parameters to the scattering amplitude is determined by a phase integral (“eikonal”) which is integrated along a real curved “quantal” trajectory. This amplitude reduces to the Glauber expression in the high-energy, forward-angle limit, and to the usual semiclassical amplitude in the classical limit. The formulation can be applied to the study of heavy-ion scattering. The quantal trajectories are investigated analytically for the case of Coulomb scattering. A numerical analysis of elastic ¹⁶O¹⁶O scattering is carried out. The results show appreciable improvement as compared with the Glauber approximation.     

Eikonal representation in the momentum-transfer space

By means of empirical fits to the differential cross section data on pp and elastic scattering, above 10 GeV (center-of-mass energy), we determine the eikonal in the momentum-transfer space (q ²- space). We make use of a numerical method and a novel semi-analytical method, through which the uncertainties from the fit parameters can be propagated up to the eikonal in the q ²- space. A systematic study of the effect of the experimental information at large values of the momentum transfer is developed and discussed in detail. We present statistical evidence that the imaginary part of the eikonal changes sign in the q ²- space and that the position of the zero decreases as the energy increases; after the position of the zero, the eikonal presents a minimum and then goes to zero through negative values. We discuss the applicability of our results in the phenomenological context, outlining some connections with nonperturbative QCD. A short review and a critical discussion on the main results concerning “model-independent” analyses are also presented. Received: 19 August 2004, Revised: 12 November 2004, Published online: 14 January 2005 PACS: 13.85.Dz, 13.85.-t     

Eikonal equation for partially coherent fields

Coherence is the study of the amplitude correlations of optical fields. Its physical features can be obtained from the cross-spectral density function W(x₁,x₂,γ) which satisfies two coupled Helmholtz equations. In this article, we describe the amplitude of the optical field using the angular spectrum model. With this representation we calculate the propagation of the correlation function emerging from a transmittance plane. We show that the cross-spectral density function, can be described by just one Helmholtz equation. The treatment permits us to associate directional features to the coherence phenomena. This implies the existence of extremal trajectories of correlation, which are characterized by an eikonal equation, and the existence of a function for media fluctuations, which we term the correlation refractive index. Experimental results are shown for the synthesis of partially coherent focusing regions, which are described by an ensemble of extreme correlation trajectories.     

Eikonal approximation and the Mandelstam diagram

Cheng and Wu's argument that the eikonal approximation fails for the Mandelstam diagram with a Regge pole and a single-particle exchange is shown not to be valid when form factors are included in the single-particle exchange. The failure of the eikonal approximation for this diagram then appears in a completely different way.     

Eikonal approximation for magnetic electron scattering

The eikonal (high-energy) approximation of Yennie et al. for the scattering of electrons from nuclei has been extended to include the transverse interaction, and in particular the case of magnetic scattering. It is applied here to elastic magnetic scattering from ²⁰⁹Bi at 500 MeV as an example.     

Eikonal equation of the Lorentz-violating Maxwell theory

We derive the eikonal equation of light wavefront in the presence of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) from the photon sector of the standard model extension (SME). The results obtained from the equations of the E and B fields, respectively, are the same. This guarantees the self-consistency of our derivation. We adopt a simple case with only one non-zero LIV parameter as an illustration, from which we find two points. One is that, in analogy with the Hamilton–Jacobi equation, from the eikonal equation, we can derive dispersion relations which are compatible with results obtained from other approaches. The other is that the wavefront velocity is the same as the group velocity, as well as the energy flow velocity. If further we define the signal velocity v _s as the front velocity, there always exists a mode with v _s >1; hence causality is violated classically. Thus, our method might be useful in the analysis of Lorentz violation in QED in terms of classical causality.     

Eikonal theory of electron- and positron-atom collisions

We review recent developments in the application of eikonal methods to the field of electron and positron collisions with atoms. The foundations of the eikonal approximation are first analyzed within the framework of potential scattering, with particular attention to those aspects of the theory which can be generalized to atomic collision processes. We next discuss various many-body applications of the eikonal method, namely: the Glauber approximation, the eikonal-Born series method, optical model theories, the eikonal distorted wave method and the multistate eikonal approximation. We also analyze eikonal exchange amplitudes. Applications of these methods are then considered, first for the case of elastic scattering and then for various inelastic processes.     

New Thoughts about an Old Eikonal Problem

Two different methods of approach, currently under investigation, are suggested for calculating the eikonal function corresponding to quark-quark scattering at very high energies and small momentum transfers. These methods illustrate the realistic, dynamical complexities inherent in QCD scattering problems.     

Eikonal method for calculation of coherence functions

A method is presented for computing the cross-spectral density of a special class of partially coherent fields in which the coherent modes obey an eikonal equation. This method allows for statistical analysis of optical systems based on simple ray tracing.     

Eikonal approximation in the theory of X-ray interferometer

On the basis of eikonal approximation a theory of X-ray moiré formation is presented in the case where deformations are present in all three plates of the interferometer. The role of each plate of the interferometer in the process of moiré formation is revealed. The theory can be applied for the general case of weak deformations.     

Eikonal Reaction Theory for One- and Two-Neutron Removal Reactions

We present an accurate method of treating neutron removal reactions and it’s applications. According to the method, the nuclear and Coulomb breakup processes are consistently treated by the method of the continuum discretized coupled channels. This method is referred to as the eikonal reaction theory (ERT). We analyze the two types of removal reactions of ³¹Ne and ⁶He with ERT.     

Eikonal analysis of Coulomb distortion in quasi-elastic electron scattering

An eikonal expansion is used to provide systematic corrections to the eikonal approximation through order 1/k ², where k is the wave number. Electron wave functions are obtained for the Dirac equation with a Coulomb potential. They are used to investigate distorted-wave matrix elements for quasi-elastic electron scattering from a nucleus. A form of effective-momentum approximation is obtained using trajectory-dependent eikonal phases and focusing factors. Fixing the Coulomb distortion effects at the center of the nucleus, the often-used ema approximation is recovered. Comparisons of these approximations are made with full calculations using the electron eikonal wave functions. The ema results are found to agree well with the full calculations.