English

A microscopic derivation of the quantum mechanical formal scattering cross section

Quantum Physics 2009-11-11 v3 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

We prove that the empirical distribution of crossings of a "detector'' surface by scattered particles converges in appropriate limits to the scattering cross section computed by stationary scattering theory. Our result, which is based on Bohmian mechanics and the flux-across-surfaces theorem, is the first derivation of the cross section starting from first microscopic principles.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0509010,
  title  = {A microscopic derivation of the quantum mechanical formal scattering cross section},
  author = {D. Dürr and S. Goldstein and T. Moser and N. Zangh\`ı},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0509010},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

28 pages, v2: Typos corrected, layout improved, v3: Typos corrected. Accepted for publication in Comm. Math. Phys

R2 v1 2026-07-22T19:50:43.915Z