Inelastic electron scattering from mercury atoms at intermediate energies (8-50 eV)

Abstract
Distorted-wave Born approximation results for the scattering asymmetry for (polarised) electron impact excitation of the (6s6p)1P1 and (6s6p)3P1,2 states of mercury are presented and compared with recent experimental data. The sensitivity of the results to different atomic wavefunctions and static potentials as well as to various optical potentials which simulate electron exchange, absorption and polarisation effects is examined in detail. For the 1P1 and 3P1 states, the influence of intermediate coupling is discussed.