ABSTRACT
In this chapter we discuss the quantum mechanics of the scattering of particles by a fixed object. Scattering is a very important feature of many physical processes and is nearly always a part of the process of performing and recording an experimental result. Thus when we perform an x-ray diffraction experiment we record the diffraction pattern created when x-rays are scattered by a crystal, while nearly all the information we possess about the energy levels and structure of nuclei and fundamental particles has been obtained from experiments in which beams of particles (e.g., protons or neutrons) are scattered from targets containing the nuclei or particles under investigation. Indeed, any visual observation we make simply by looking at something involves the detection by our eyes of light scattered from the object we are looking at. It is important therefore that we understand something of the quantum mechanics of the scattering processes, and this will be the aim of the present chapter.
