The influence of the Pauli exclusion principle on electron impact ionization of light atoms

Abstract

The T-matrix elements for electron impact ionization of light atoms are evaluated with fully antisymmetrized wavefunctions. Rather than use direct, exchange and capture amplitudes, as is usually done, the author partition the T-matrix only into capture and transmission amplitudes, which describe whether the impinging electron is captured or not. The transmission amplitude involves both the direct and exchange amplitudes. All scattering amplitudes are reduced to two-particle matrix elements. The structure of the transmission amplitude is easily interpreted in terms of the pure electron-electron interaction, interaction with the screened nuclear potential, and exchange interactions of free electrons with bound ones. The five-fold differential cross section is obtained in rather simple form in terms of the amplitudes.