Momentum-transfer cross section
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In physics, and especially scattering theory, the momentum-transfer cross section (sometimes known as the momentum-transport cross section[1]) is an effective scattering cross section useful for describing the average momentum transferred from a particle when it collides with a target. Essentially, it contains all the information about a scattering process necessary for calculating average momentum transfers but ignores other details about the scattering angle.
The momentum-transfer cross section is defined in terms of an (azimuthally symmetric and momentum independent) differential cross section by
The momentum-transfer cross section can be written in terms of the phase shifts from a partial wave analysis as [2]