Relation of the Probability of Recoil Atom Ionization to Experimental Data on Ionization by Photons and Electrons

摘要

The process of atomic nucleus recoil under the elastic scattering of a neutral particle, a hypothetical dark matter particle (WIMP) in particular, is considered. In the case of a low-energy recoil of the nucleus, the relations between the probability of ionization of the recoil atom and the cross section of ionization of such an atom by a photon, as well as by an electron, are obtained. These expressions contain only one parameter, the values of which are calculated for different types of atoms, taking into account experimental data on ionization by photons and electrons. The probabilities of ionization of noble-gas recoil atoms are compared with the results of other theoretical studies, and it is emphasized that the proposed calculating model is quite reliable and its accuracy is determined by the error of the experimental cross sections that are used.