Abstract
A calculation of the excitations in a model of the rare gas solids using the dielectric matrix is presented. The model has only four free parameters: the effective mass of the conduction band electron, the energy gap, the size of the hole orbital and the lattice parameter. It is shown that a hydrogenic model can be used. All matrix element effects are included approximately. A broad peak in the loss spectra is predicted and is interpreted as being due to only single-particle excitations. Agreement with experiment is reasonable considering the crude nature of the model. Brief consideration is given to the effect of the finite width of the valence band and triplet-singlet splitting.

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