Comparison of Classical and Quantum Bremsstrahlung

Classical features persist in bremsstrahlung at surprisingly high energies, while quantum features are present at low energies. For Coulomb bremsstrahlung this is related to the similar properties of Coulomb scattering. For bremsstrahlung in a screened potential, the low energy spectrum and angular distribution exhibit structures. In quantum mechanics these structures are associated with zeroes of particular angular-momentum transfer matrix elements at particular energies, a continuation of the Cooper minima in atomic photoeffect. They lead to transparency windows in free-free absorption. The trajectories of these zeroes in the plane of initial and final transition energies (bound and continuum) has been explored. Corresponding features have now been seen in classical bremsstrahlung, resulting from reduced contributions from particular impact parameters at particular energies. This has suggested the possibility of a more unified treatment of classical and quantum bremsstrahlung, based on the singularities of the scattering amplitude in angular momentum.