Spin polarisation of electrons elastically scattered from mercury

Spin polarisation parameters have been calculated for the elastic scattering of electrons from mercury atoms at incident energies up to 180 eV. These results were obtained by solving the Dirac equations, which included relativistic Dirac-Fock static and non-local exchange potentials plus a non-relativistic polarisation potential. A comparison with recent experiments of the results for the spin polarisation parameters S, T and U as well as for the difference in phase between the direct and exchange scattering amplitudes yields very good agreement at energies above 15 eV. The authors also present results for elastic differential, total and momentum transfer cross sections.