Glory scattering by black holes

We present a physically motivated derivation of the JWKB backward glory-scattering cross section of massless waves by Schwarzschild black holes. The angular dependence of the cross section is identical with the one derived by path integration, namely, d{σ}/d{Ω}=4π²{{λ}}^{{{-}}1}Bg{}²(dB mWπ, where λ is the wavelength, B(θ) is the inverse of the classical deflection function CTHETA(B),{B}g$ is the glory impact parameter, s is the helicity of the scattered wave, and ${J}₂ₛ$ is the Bessel function of order 2s. The glory rings formed by scalar waves are bright at the center; those formed by polarized waves are dark at the center. For scattering of massless particles by a spherical black hole of mass M, B({θ})/M{~}3 {}3 +3.48 exp(-{θ}), {θ}>owig{π}. The numerical values of d{σ}/d{Ω} for this deflection function are found to agree with earlier computer calculations of glory cross sections from black holes.