The second-order S-matrix element for the elastic scattering of photons by K-shell bound electrons: the nonrelativistic limit

The right expressions of the nonrelativistic K-shell Rayleigh scattering amplitudes and cross-sections are obtained by using the Coulomb Green's function method. Our analytical result does not have the spurious poles that occur in the old nonrelativistic result with retardation (Gavrila and Costescu 1970 Phys. Rev. A 2 1752). Starting from the expression of the second-order S-matrix element for the case of the elastic scattering of photons by K-shell bound electrons, we obtain the correct nonrelativistic Rayleigh angular distribution (valid for photon energies omega up to alphaZm) by removing the relativistic higher order terms in alphaZ and omega/m. The imaginary part of the Rayleigh amplitudes is obtained for any scattering angles in a closed form in terms of elementary functions. Thereby a simple formula for the exact nonrelativistic photoeffect total cross-section is obtained via the optical theorem, giving significantly better predictions than Fischer's nonrelativistic photoeffect formula. Comparing the predictions given by our formulae with the full relativistic numerical calculations of Kissel et al (Phys. Rev. 1980 A 22 1970), and with experimental results, a fairly good agreement within 10% is found for the angular distribution of Rayleigh scattering for photon energies up to 200 keV and both below and above the first resonance.