A refined measurement of a binary, collision-induced, depolarized Rama
n spectrum of mercury vapor is analyzed in terms of recent interatomic
potential and interaction-induced pair polarizability models, using q
uantum line-shape computations. The comparison of the computed spectra
with a measurement at the temperature of 1070 K permits improvements,
especially of the existing anisotropy model of the pair polarizabilit
y. The main result of this paper is that for highly polarizable atoms
(such as Hg), especially at elevated temperatures, the long-range cont
ribution to the pair polarizability needs to be suppressed at short in
teratomic distances. This is done with the help of damping functions,
known from interatomic potential models.