Energy Distribution of Energetic Atoms in a Gaseous Medium. II. Elastic Scattering by a Spherical Two-Term Potential Composed of a Hard and a Soft Term

The energy distribution function n(E) for energetic particles in a gaseous medium is treated (classically), assuming the particles to be scattered by a potential of the form V(r) = ∞;0 ≤ r ≤ R = A / rs;R < r ≤∞. The function n(E) is computed using the Boltzmann integral equation with the probability function g(E, E′) as the kernel. A method is described for the computation of g(E, E′) for a potential V(r) + ΔV(r) if it is known for the potential V(r). This method is used to represent g(E, E′) in an analytic explicit form for the above potential. Substituting g(E, E′) in the Boltzmann equation, the function n(E) is computed following some approximations.