3-BODY COULOMB CONTINUUM PROBLEM

A symmetric representation of the three-body Coulomb continuum wave fu nction as a product of three two-body Coulomb wave functions is modifi ed to allow for three-body effects whereby the Sommerfeld parameter de scribing the strength of interaction of any two particles is affected by the presence of the third particle. This approach gives excellent a greement with near-threshold absolute (e, 2e) ionization cross section s. In particular a recently observed deep minimum in noncoplanar geome try is reproduced for the first time.