The bound-free absorption coefficient of the negative hydrogen ion

The method of polarized orbitals has been employed to obtain a representation of the singlet P-wave continuum functions of the negative hydrogen ion. These functions were combined with twenty- and seventy-parameter bound-state wave functions to calculate the bound-free absorption cross sections of the negative hydrogen ion using the length and velocity alternatives for the dipole operator. It is found that the results of Geltman, Doughty et al. and the present calculations in the length formulation are in close agreement, but that there is a considerable disparity at long wavelengths between these results and the experimental photodetachment results of Smith and Burch and of Branscomb and Smith.