Relativistic particle incoherent scattering in oriented crystals

Abstract

The coherent process of particle deflection by aligned atomic strings and planes of oriented crystals is accompanied by incoherent scattering by atomic cores. While the coherent particle deflection, described by the axial or planar averaged potential, becomes more and more classical at high energies, the incoherent scattering of relativistic particles remains essentially quantum. Though the latter reminds the scattering by atoms of amorphous medium at high enough momentum transfers, at the smallest ones the incoherent scattering process in crystals experiences some modification by the influence of the inhomogeneity of the atom distribution in the plane, normal to the crystal axis or plane. Considering the axial case as a more general example, we present a consistent theory of high energy particles incoherent scattering in oriented crystals. The latter takes into consideration both the quantum scattering nature and the atom distribution inhomogeneity, revealing the limited applicability of the scattering cross section notion. The way to incorporate the quantum scattering features into the widely used classical trajectory simulations is elaborated using newly introduced mean square scattering angle definition.