Relativistic convergent close-coupling method applied to electron scattering from mercury

Abstract

We report on the extension of the recently formulated relativistic convergent close-coupling (RCCC) method to accommodate two-electron and quasi-two-electron targets. We apply the theory to electron scattering from mercury and obtain differential and integrated cross sections for elastic and inelastic scattering. We compared with previous nonrelativistic convergent close-coupling (CCC) calculations and for a number of transitions obtained significantly better agreement with the experiment. The RCCC method is able to resolve structure in the integrated cross sections for the energy regime in the vicinity of the excitation thresholds for the $(6s6p){ }^{3}{P}_{0,1,2}$ states. These cross sections are associated with the formation of negative ion (${\mathrm{Hg}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) resonances that could not be resolved with the nonrelativistic CCC method. The RCCC results are compared with the experiment and other relativistic theories.