The elastic scattering of electrons from inert gases: 5. Argon and Krypton in the vicinity of Ramsauer-Townsend minima and on the choice of pseudo-states

Recently, several electron scattering experiments using improved experimental techniques have been reported for Ar and Kr in the region of Ramsauer-Townsend minima. The calculations of Fon et al. on electrons colliding with inert-gas atoms are extended to examine these experimental data. These calculations using a single pseudo-state to account for the dipole polarisability of the ground state atom while ignoring a whole host of excitation mechanisms, have been the subject of considerable controversy (e.g. Reinhardt 1981; Walters 1981). The answers to the questions raised by Walters (1981) may well lie in the present calculation and those of Fon et al. (1983, 1984) in which the 1P pseudo-states used in these calculations give polarisabilities at least 15% larger than the experimental values. (author)