TRANSFER OF HELICITY IN RADIATION AND ABSORPTION OF HIGH-ENERGY PHOTONS

Abstract

Nearly complete transfer of momentum between a high-energy electron (or positron) and a photon in a Coulomb field implies that helicity is also transferred. This is not a consequence of conservation of total angular momentum but, rather, of spin angular momentum, and follows from a demonstration that it is possible to use freeparticle spinors (though not free wave functions) for the high-energy particles. Polarization correlations of the lower-energy particle in such a process are discussed. Applications are made to bremsstrahlung, pair production, photoeffect, and one-photon pair annihilation. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1961
Accession Number
AD0258208

Entities

People

  • R.h. Pratt

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Angular Momentum
  • Bremsstrahlung
  • Corpuscular Radiation
  • Electrons
  • Energy
  • High Energy
  • Ionizing Radiation
  • Momentum
  • Nuclear Radiation
  • Pair Production
  • Particles
  • Positrons
  • Radiation
  • Spin Angular Momentum
  • Total Angular Momentum
  • Wave Functions

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.
  • Solar Physics

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics