White line in the L-absorption spectra of⁷²Hf to⁷⁹Au

In continuation of earlier work (1971) the L absorption spectra of 72 Hf to 79 Au in pure metallic form have been investigated with a one metre curved mica crystal spectrograph of transmission type. Except at the L 11 absorption edge of 78 Pt, a white line is detected both at the L 11 and L 111 edges of 72 Hf to 78 Pt. The peak position and width of the white line are reported. As one goes from 72 Hf to 78 Pt, it is noticed that the width of white line at the L 111 edge decreases with the filling of the 5d band and vanishes completely for 79 Au. An attempt is made to correlate the existence, intensity and distance of the white line from the main edge with the theoretically determined density of states.