Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/paper-1/section-b/b8/solution
Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2012 Paper 1 Section B B8 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Take the incident photon along , and write for the boost. In the boosted frame the initial momenta areTheir sum vanishes when , giving and . The initial photon energy there is , and total energy is .
For right-angle Compton scattering in the centre-of-momentum frame, choose the outgoing ZM photon along . The electron has the opposite momentum . Conservation of energy determines its magnitude:Thus . Inverting the velocity transformation givesConsequentlyThe electron recoils below the incident direction for our choice of photon scattering above it; the reflected configuration reverses both transverse signs. Finally,As a check, , so the final energies sum to the initial . The outgoing laboratory photon makes with .
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