Abstract
An examination is made of some new data obtained by photon and electron impact, in an attempt to determine more accurately the threshold laws for processes of autoionization. In the cases of Kr and Xe, it is found that marked interference can occur between the two competing processes of direct and autoionization. The results, and also some of the apparently anomalous ionization efficiency data obtained by electron impact for several of the metals, can be interpreted in terms of configuration‐interaction phenomena involving excited states of very short lifetimes.