The atomic form factor for vanadium: a treatment including correlation andLS-dependent relativistic effects

The atomic form factor for the ground state of vanadium is evaluated using non-relativistic and “relativistic-corrected” configuration interaction wavefunctions in the |LSM _L M _s 〉 representation. Relaxing the constraints imposed by the Hartree-Fock model results in a very small reduction of the atomic factor at small momentum transfer with a negligible change at higher momentum transfer. Better agreement with the relativistic Hartree-Fock atomic form factor at small momentum transfer is obtained when theLS-dependent relativistic effects are included in the Breit-Pauli approximation. The sensitivity of the atomic form factor to small changes in the magnitude of the expansion coefficients of the configurational functions is also discussed.