Electron Broadening Operator Including Penetrating Collisions for Hydrogen

Abstract

The expression of the electron broadening operator including the effect of penetrating collisions, i.e., for which the incoming electron enters the extent of bound-electron wave-functions, is rather complicated, even for hydrogen. It involves integrals of special functions, the evaluation of which deserves scrutiny. We present a simple approximate form of the electron collision operator for hydrogen including penetration effects, both in direct and interference terms. The new expression is accurate and easy to compute. In the Penetration Standard Theory, the collision operator is convergent whatever the value of the maximum impact parameter. However, when penetration theory is not valid anymore, it should be questioned. We discuss the problem of strong collisions when penetration effects are taken into account.