Reply to Wuttke: Our reinterpretation of QENS does not violate scattering theory
Not Available
Frauenfelder, Hans↗
Engineering topics
Young, Robert D.
Publications and source records attributed to Young, Robert D..
The role of momentum transfer during incoherent neutron scattering is explained by the energy landscape model
Significance Quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) has been used for > 40 y to study complex systems. Fascinating questions remain. The neutron has to be a de Broglie wave packet to obtain dynamics information on biological systems. During its interaction with a proton in a protein, the wave packet puts pressure on the proton and its environment. The protein acts like an ideal spring and by Hooke’s law transiently stores the energy produced by the pressure. On leaving, the wave packet regains essentially the full energy. However, during the passage, fluctuations in the sample change the neutron energy slightly and broaden the energy spectrum. The results call for a reexamination of the theory of quasielastic neutron scattering from complex systems.
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗