Correlations in an electron gas are particularly important at metallic densities because the potential energy cannot be ignored in comparison with the kinetic energy; in particular, interactions are not weak as r → 0, so that a simple Born approximation does not hold in this limit. Short-range correlations between oppositely-spinned electrons can be accounted for by an infinite series of particle–particle ladder diagrams. It leads to a Bethe–Goldstone type of equation which can be solved by an angle-averaged approximation. The resultant spin-up-down p.d.f. is positive over a wide range of metallic densities. A further correction by including particle–hole scattering effects changes the previous results only slightly.