A comparative study of the second-order Born and Faddeev-Watson approximations for electron-atom collisions

Simplified versions of the second-order Born and Faddeev-Watson approximations are applied to the excitation of the n=2 levels of atomic hydrogen by the impact of 54.4 eV electrons. The theories are compared with the measurements of differential cross sections and angular correlation parameters. The results indicate that the Born approximation is better at low angles of scattering but that the Faddeev-Watson approximation is better at high angles. The importance of the phases of the two-body T matrices in the Faddeev-Watson approximation is illustrated. (author)