76

SCATTERING

interesting results. To evaluate Equation (2.103) we must specify (k) and (k ), keeping in mind that they are perpendicular to the respective photon momenta k and k . We choose the z-axis along k, the direction of the incident photon. Therefore we choose 1 (k) along the x-axis and 2 (k) along the y-axis and obtain a right-handed triplet of unit vectors 1 (k), 2 (k), k/k . We characterize k in spherical coordinates as k = k (sin cos , sin sin , cos ). We choose 1 (k ) to be real and to be in the x, y-plane perpendicular to k . Thus 1 (k ) = (a, b, 0) with a and b to be determined such that a2 + b2 = 1. The requirement that 1 (k ) is perpendicular to k gives a sin cos + b sin sin = 0. These two relations between a and b give a = sin and b = cos or a = sin and b = cos . We choose the rst solution so 1 (k ) = (sin , cos , 0), independent of . We dene 2 (k ) to be real as well and given by 2 (k ) = (k / ) 1 (k ) where the order of the vectors in the cross product has been chosen such that we obtain a right-handed triplet of unit vectors 1 (k ), 2 (k ), k /k . We nd that 2 (k ) = (cos cos , cos sin , sin ). With these expressions for the polarization vectors we nd 1 (k) 1 (k ) = sin 1 (k) 2 (k ) = cos cos 2 (k) 1 (k ) = cos 2 (k) 2 (k ) = cos sin (2.104)

If we assume that the incident photon is unpolarized we must average over its two possible polarizations, that is sum over and divide by 2. If we assume that the polarization of the outgoing photon is not measured we must sum over its two possible polarizations, that is sum over . Note that we must calculate the sum of squared terms and not the square of the sum. We get 2 d 2 1 (k) (k ) = r2 e 2 d , =1
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 =1 2 re (sin + cos cos + cos + cos sin ) 2 2 = 1 2 re (1 + cos )

(2.105)

This result exhibits an interesting angular dependence of the cross section: it is maximum for = 0 or , that is, for outgoing photons along the incident photons direction or in the opposite direction. It is minimal at directions perpendicular to the incident photons direction. There is no dependence as expected because there is no direction dened transverse to the incident photons direction for unpolarized incident photons. The total cross section is obtained by integrating Equation (2.106) over = 8 2 r 3 e (2.106)