Kramers–Heisenberg formula Kramers–Heisenberg formula The Kramers–Heisenberg dispersion formula is an expression for the cross section for scattering of a photon by an atomic electron. It was derived before the advent of quantum mechanics by Hendrik Kramers and Werner Heisenberg in 1925, based on the correspondence principle applied to the classical dispersion formula for light. The quantum mechanical derivation was given by Paul Dirac in 1927. The Kramers–Heisenberg formula was an important achievement when it was published, explaining the notion of "negative absorption" (stimulated emission), the Thomas–Reiche–Kuhn sum rule, and inelastic scattering — where the energy of the scattered photon may be larger
Heisenberg picture line above is the Heisenberg Hamiltonian "H"("t"), which may differ from the Schrödinger Hamiltonian. An important special case of the equation above is obtained if the Hamiltonian does not vary with time. Then the time-evolution operator can be written as Therefore, and, Here ∂"A"/∂"t" is the time derivative of the initial "A", not the "A"("t") operator defined. The last equation holds since commutes with . If the Hamiltonian does not vary with time, then the time-evolution operator can be written as where is the Hamiltonian and is the reduced Planck constant. Therefore, Thus and hence emerges the above Heisenberg equation