Scattering of electrons from argon atoms

The scattering of electrons from argon atoms is studied by the method of polarized orbitals. The 3p{→}d perturbed orbital calculated using the Sternheimer approximation gives the polarizability 14.29a₀³. The perturbation of the orbitals 1s, 2s, 2p, and 3s is taken into account by renormalizing the 3p{→}d orbitals to give the experimental value 11.06a₀³. Using only the modified orbital in the total wave function, phase shifts for various partial waves have been calculated in the exchange, exchange-adiabatic, and polarized-orbital approximations. They are compared with the results of the previous calculations. The calculated total elastic, differential, and momentum-transfer cross sections are compared with the experimental results. The elastic total cross sections obtained in the polarized-orbital approximation agree very closely with the recently measured cross sections by Jost et al. and Nickel et al. The critical point (the value of k² and theta at which the differential cross section is minimum) is at 0.306 eV and 80^∘{}, in good agreement with the measurements of Weyhreter et al.