Lectures 14-15: EM radiation passing through matter
2. Scattering of EM wave by a free electron (contd..)
Radiated power and Thomson cross section
The total rate of radiative energy loss is
(14)
This may be interpreted as the scattering of the incident
radiation by the electron, resulting in the loss of the incident
power by radiation. The scattering cross section is then
(15)
This is the Thomson scattering cross section.
Note that the Thomson cross section is more than the naive "surface area" of the classical electron, .
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