Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/ia/paper-4/12c/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 4 12C c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let the incident and final photon momentum magnitudes beIn a nontrivial collinear collision, the photon is backscattered and the electron moves in the original photon direction, so momentum conservation gives electron momentum . Conservation of relativistic energy givesSubstitute , isolate the square root, and square. Cancellation leavesDividing by and using the wavelength definitions gives the Compton scattering shiftThe other collinear possibility is the trivial forward solution , in which the electron remains at rest.
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