Elastic scattering of photons

Abstract Photon scattering from bound electrons of atoms, a component of the elastic photon-atom scattering amplitude called Rayleigh scattering, is discussed. General features of the many-body scattering amplitude and its partitioning into Rayleigh and Delbruck (and nuclear) single-electron transition scattering amplitudes are examined. The use of the state-of-the-art precise second-order S-matrix calculations of Rayleigh scattering in terms of single-electron transition-amplitudes has led to significant progress in our understanding of the scattering process. The importance of relativistic, higher multipole, and bound-bound contributions in calculating anomalous scattering factor deviations from form factor amplitudes must be emphasized. Accurate interpolation of cross sections in the three-dimensional space of scattering angle, photon energy, and atomic number, utilizing the available published S-matrix data, has permitted extensive tabulation of differential scattering cross sections. S-matrix results may be compared with experiments to assess their validity; they may be compared with simpler but more approximate approaches, to identify the extent of the utility of such approaches and to develop simpler prescription schemes which can give results comparable to the S-matrix results. In spite of their many successes, the present second order S-matrix methods also have limitations and shortcomings, observed in certain recent experiments. We describe the explanation of these experiments in terms of a composite theory which also incorporates non-local exchange and correlation effects. We end with a discussion of other future issues.