Semiclassical exchange approximation for inelastic electron scattering

Abstract

The semiclassical exchange approximation is extended to treat the inelastic exchange kernels which arise in the theoretical treatment of excitation of electronic states by electron impact. Cross sections for excitation of the 2s state of hydrogen are calculated using both the semiclassical exchange approximation and its high‐energy limit (the high‐energy exchange approximation). The results are compared to those obtained using the exact treatment of exchange and the agreement is generally very good. The method should be useful for the quantum mechanical treatment of intermediate‐energy electron–molecule scattering for interpreting electron impact spectroscopic studies.