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If you were trying to scatter a photon, what would be the best thing to try to fire at? Another photon? An electron? A proton?

Does the energy of the thing I'm firing increase the probability of scattering the photon?

Qmechanic
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1 Answers1

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Photons are elementary point particles in the standard model of particle physics. Interactions of elementary particles depend on quantum mechanics, and are studied using quantum field theory.

There are four fundamental forces through which particles interact, with each other, photons interact mainly with the electromagetic force. "Mainly" because the calculations are done with an expansion in a mathematical series in a perturbation theory.

To scatter a photon with high probability one should choose a charged particle from the table of particles linked above.

Photon photon scattering is very improbable at low energies, though at high energies the probability goes up.

These are the lowest order scattering Feynman diagrams for photon electron scattering.

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In general scattering crossections grow with the energy available for the interaction.

Photons will also scatter from the electric and magnetic fields of atoms and molecules.

anna v
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