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I want to know how an in-or elastic scattering of an electron in an atom is different then the bremsstrahlung. I am currently learning about particle physics and different concepts etc.

We began with lectures about scattering particles such electrons, that give us the possibility to investigate the structure of a molecule,atom, nucleon simply by increasing the energy of the electron every time we want to have a deeper look at the structure of the matter. But we never spoke about Bremsstrahlung which according to Wikipedia is :

"Bremsstrahlung is electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle when deflected by another charged particle, typically an electron by an atomic nucleus."

Now my question is, does bremsstrahlung happens always when we do scattering processes ? Or is it something that we can avoid, and if yes, how can we do that?

What i am trying to ask is if we can somehow cause only bremsstrahlung or only scattering of an electron that is moving towards a target-atom

imbAF
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1 Answers1

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Brehsstrahlung is discussed in this related question. This is the Feynman diagram from which first order calculations can be made for the process.

brems

In terms of scattering off atoms (and molecules) it is an inelastic scattering, loss of energy, with the spill over electric fields(spill over magnetic fields are much weaker, except in magnetic materials) of atoms and nuclei. A dp/dt, momentum loss, goes from the electron , when a virtual photon interacts with it, either before or after the virtual photon exchange. These diagrams allow to calculate the probability on how often this type of scattering happens.

What i am trying to ask is if we can somehow cause only bremsstrahlung or only scattering of an electron that is moving towards a target-atom

Not with individual atoms, we cannot, it is part of the inelastic scattering possible when electrons interact with atoms and molecules, with the probabilities calculable using the diagrams.

Bremsstahlung is important, as discussed in the question linked, for electron and charged particle beams in the vacuum of accelerators, where the interaction happens with the very strong magnetic fields used to generating and controlling the beam. The atoms and molecules generating the magnetic field are very far away, so other types of interaction are very improbable. The nucleus in the image can be the strong magnetic field of the beam controls , the virtual photon exchanged with the field generating energy loss from the electron. In this case it is only bremsstahlung that is the inelastic interaction

anna v
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