The Electron–Atom Ionisation Problem

Abstract

Methods of calculating electron–atom ionisation as a three-body problem with Coulomb boundary conditions are considered. In the absence of a fully-valid computational method for a time-independent experiment the approximation is made that the incident electron experiences a screened potential. Approximations involving a final state that obeys the three-body Coulomb boundary condition are compared with the distorted-wave Born approximation and the convergent close-coupling method.