Semiclassical limit of the scattering cross section as a distribution

E. Lakshtanov

Published 2007-09-16, updated 2009-12-14Version 2

We consider quantum scattering from a compactly supported potential $q$. The semiclassical limit amounts to letting the wavenumber $k \to \infty$ while rescaling the potential as $k^2 q$ (alternatively, one can scale Planck's constant $\hbar \searrow 0$). It is well-known that, under appropriate conditions, for $\om \in \bbS_{n-1}$ such that there is exactly one outgoing ray with direction $\om$ (in the sense of geometric optics), the differential scattering cross section $|f(\om,k)|^{2}$ tends to the classical differential cross section $|f_{cl}(\om)|^2$ as $k \uparrow \infty$. It is also clear that the same can not be true if there is more than one outgoing ray with direction $\om$ or for \emph{nonregular} directions (including the forward direction $\theta_0$). However, based on physical intuition, one could conjecture $|f|^2 \to |f_{cl}|^2 + \sigma_{cl} \delta_{\theta_0}$ where $|f_{cl}|^2$ is the classical cross section and $\delta_{\theta_0}$ is the Dirac measure supported at the forward direction $\theta_0$. The aim of this paper is to prove this conjecture.