A SEMICLASSICAL MODEL OF POLARIZATION FORCES IN ATOMIC SCATTERING .2.ELECTRON COLLISIONS WITH NEON AND ARGON

Low-energy elastic, differential and integral, collision cross section s for electron scattering from rare gas atoms are calculated using a s implified model treatment of the short-range polarisation forces alrea dy applied successfully to helium atoms (De Fazio et al., 1994). Stati c and exchange contributions to the total interaction are treated exac tly, while a global semiclassical model provides a simple procedure fo r the short-range damping of all the long-range adiabatic terms which asymptotically lead to the polarisation forces. The results are compar ed with several available experimental findings for Ne and Ar atoms. T he higher order terms in the perturbation expansion are found to have little effect on the cross sections and then only at low energies and in the small-angle region.