Energy of a single electron in gaseous media

Abstract

The so-called «optical» approximation in the theory of electron energy spectrum in the presence of scattering centers with positive scattering length randomly distributed with the average density ng is considered for a number of inert gases. The average minimal energy W of a single electron calculated beyond the optical approximation reveals a behavior qualitatively different from that of the same quantity W₀ derived within the optical approximation. Results of calculations are in qualitative agreement with experimental data available for theW(ng) dependence for different cryogenic gases.