Dynamical chaos and stochastic mechanism of high-energy negatively charged particle deflection by bent crystals

Abstract

Deflection of high-energy negatively charged particles in straight and bent crystals through multiple scattering by crystal atomic strings was considered for the case in which the initial angle between the particle momentum and one of the main crystallographic axes was approximately four critical angles of axial channeling. It was shown that in a bent crystal with a small crystal thickness, when the crystal bend was less than the beam incidence angle, the beam deflected in the direction opposite to the direction of the crystal bend. At larger crystal thicknesses, the large part of the beam starts to deflect in the direction of the crystal bend. In addition, there is a group of particles that follow the crystal axis bend in the angular region of approximately the critical angle of axial channeling with respect to the current direction of the crystal axis. It was shown that in all of these deflection processes, the periodicity of the location of atomic strings in the crystal does not influence the angular distributions of scattered particles. This fact is connected with the effect of dynamical chaos in particle motion in the periodical field of bent crystal atomic strings. It was also shown that observed in a recent CERN experiment effect of beam deflection, when the angle between the initial particle momentum and the crystal axis was approximately four critical angles of axial channeling, is due to peculiarities of the stochastic multiple scattering of particles by bent crystal atomic strings. These peculiarities are connected with the effect of dynamical chaos in particle motion in crystals.