C. Efthymiopoulos, N. Delis, G. Contopoulos. Wavepacket approach to particle diffraction by thin targets: Quantum trajectories and arrival times
Natural Sciences / Physics / Quantum field theory
Submitted on: Oct 10, 2012, 18:30:13
Description: We develop a wavepacket approach to the diffraction of charged particles by a thin material target and we use the de Broglie-Bohm quantum trajectories to study various phenomena in this context. We find the form of the separator, i.e.the limit between the domains of prevalence of the ingoing and outgoing quantum flow. The structure of the quantum-mechanical currents in the neighborhood of the separator implies the formation of an array of emph{quantum vortices} (nodal point - X point complexes). We show how the deformation of the separatior near Bragg angles explains the emergence of a diffraction pattern by the de Broglie - Bohm trajectories. We calculate the arrival time distributions for particles scattered at different angles. The predictions of the de Broglie - Bohm theory for $Delta T$ turn to be different from estimates of the same quantity using other theories on time observables like the sum-over-histories or the Kijowski approach. *** Published in Ann. Phys. 327, 438 ***