Excitation of Ar I 3p⁵4p, 3p⁵3d and 3p⁵5s configurations by electrons in the distorted-wave approximation

Excitation cross sections for all fine-structure levels of Ar I 3p 5 4p, 3d and 5s configurations are calculated for the range of electron energies 16-100 eV in the distorted-wave Born approximation with exchange. Non-empirical intermediate-coupling wavefunctions are used and their quality is checked by calculating the dipole transition probabilities. The results are compared with the experimental data obtained by electrical and optical methods.