Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Nov 1993
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993apj...417...12g&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal v.417, p.12
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
9
Cosmology: Early Universe, Cosmology: Theory, Elementary Particles
Scientific paper
The cross section for neutron-photon scattering is computed in the limit hω ≪ Mc2, where M is the nucleon mass. The derivation is outlined by both classical and quantum electrodynamics, yielding the total cross section, the angular distribution, and the general formula for arbitrary polarization in the incoming and outgoing photons. For a neutron in contact with a blackbody photon gas, the total energy exchange rate is calculated, including the effects of stimulated scattering. The result is compared with that for electron scattering off neutrons; for a thermal distribution of electrons (or positrons), it is found that photon scattering dominates for kT> 180 MeV. Photon-neutron scattering dominates proton-neutron scattering for kT> 8 MeV in the primordial plasma, with a weak dependence of this characteristic temperature on the cosmological photon-proton number. For neutrons scattering off electrons and photons, the drag coefficients are derived in an elementary way from the formulae for the energy exchange rate for each process.
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