M X-ray production cross sections for heavy elements by proton impact

We present in this paper, M-shell ionization cross sections and M X-ray production cross sections calculated within the Energy loss, Coulomb deflection, Perturbed Stationary State and Relativistic effects (ECPSSR) theory for elements with 72 <= Z <= 90 for protons with 0.1-4.0 MeV energy. Our results are compared to the plane wave Born approximation (PWBA) predictions, the relativistic plane-wave Born approximation including corrections for binding and Coulomb deflection effect (RPWBA-BC) results and the ECPSSR calculations from earlier works. On the other hand, semiempirical and empirical M X-ray production cross sections are deduced from the polynomial fitting of the available experimental data collected from different sources. A comparison is made between the different sets of results. The differences between the above calculations and the experimental results are pointed out and discussed. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.