Magnetic-sublevel cross sections for excitation of the n 1P levels of helium by electron impact

First-order many-body theory has been used to calculate collision-frame magnetic-sublevel differential cross sections for electron-impact excitation of the n 1P (n=2,3,4,5,6) levels of helium for electrons with incident energy in the 25--500-eV range. By combining results from electron-impact differential-cross-section measurements and electron-photon coincidence measurements, experimental magnetic-sublevel cross sections have also been derived for the excitation of the 2 1P and 3 1P levels. The theory predicts a pronounced minimum for the M=0 magnetic-sublevel differential cross section for incident electron energies around 30 eV. Our theoretical results are compared to the experimental data and some other theoretical results