Analytical Independent-Particle Model for Electron Scattering by Argon at Low Energy

Abstract.

We show that values of the electron-argon scattering lengths and very low-energy phase shifts computed by Endrédi and Apagyi [Few-Body Systems 17, 199 (1994)] in two variants of the analytical independent-particle model are not converged. To prove this we employ an accurate method of calculating the scattering lengths we proposed previously. Applied to the model used by Endrédi and Apagyi, the method combines numerical computation of a short-range contribution to the scattering length and analytical evaluation of a long-range contribution due to the electron-atom polarization interaction. Outside the low-energy domain the models of Endrédi and Apagyi appear reliable and the corresponding results are not invalidated by the present findings.