An energetic (e, 2e) reaction away from the Bethe ridge: recoil versus binary

We analyse the recoil-to-binary (RB) peak intensity ratio in an energetic (e, 2e) reaction performed on the valence ns sub-shell of noble gas atoms away from the Bethe ridge condition. A qualitative change in the RB ratio dependence on the ejected electron energy from He to Ar can be explained by the variation of reflectivity of the short-range Hartree-Fock potential. The reflectivity increases profoundly from lighter (He) to heavier (Ne and Ar) noble gas atoms because of modification of the scattering phases due to occupation of the target p orbitals (Levinson-Seaton theorem). This effect is further modified due to strong inter-shell correlations in Ar. These theoretical predictions are confirmed experimentally.