Abstract
A calculation from first principles of the differential cross section for Rayleigh scattering shows that the contribution of polarizability anisotropy found in the literature is valid only in the high rotational quantum number limit of the vector coupling coefficients, that is, in the high‐temperature or classical limit. The additional term in the total Rayleigh scattering cross section arising from the polarizability anisotropy is about four times smaller than what is called the King factor in the literature. These errors, resulting from ignoring the constraints imposed by the conservation of angular momentum, can lead to significant corrections in estimating populations from stratospheric and mesospheric measurements.
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