Examination of (e,2e) scattering models by comparison of momentum profiles of noble gases between experiment and theory.

Momentum profiles have been measured for the two outermost atomic orbitals of noble gases, Ar, Kr and Xe, at incident electron energy of about 2 keV using a newly developed multichannel (e,2e) spectrometer. The experimental results exhibit significantly improved statistics compared with those achieved in previous studies while covering a wide range of momenta up to 3.6 a.u. The results are compared with theoretical calculations using four (e,2e) scattering models, the plane-wave impulse and Born approximations (PWIA and PWBA), and the distorted-wave impulse and Born approximations (DWIA and DWBA). The DWIA and DWBA scattering models have been found to satisfactorily reproduce the experimental momentum profiles in terms of both shape and intensity over the entire momentum range covered, indicating the importance of distorted wave effects for quantitatively describing (e,2e) reaction.