Analysis ofK-shell ionization accompanying nuclear scattering

Blair et al. have given a semiclassical form for the scattering amplitude describing a proton scattered by both a $K$-shell electron and by the nuclear plus Coulomb force of the target nucleus. This form is at variance with a recent experimental result of Duinker et al. We present both simple physical arguments and a detailed theoretical analysis which establish the conditions of validity of Blair's formula. We pay particular attention to the case of resonant nuclear scattering. We find that in the case of the experiment of Duinker et al., the Blair formula is expected to hold.