Erratum: Theoretical and Experimental (e,2e) Study of Electron-Impact Ionization of Laser-Aligned Mg Atoms [Physical Review A 90, 062707 (2014)]

We have recently reported a theoretical and experimental study of electron-impact ionization of laser-aligned magnesium. Results were presented for both ionization of the ground state, as well as for laser-aligned atoms in the 3 p state. For ionization from the 3 p state, theoretical results were presented using the distorted wave Born (DWBA) and three-body distorted wave (3DW) approximations. Unfortunately, after publication we learned that the theoretical results were incorrect due to one of the arrays in the computer code dimensioned too small. The figures affected by this error are Figs. 3–5 in the original paper. The present Figs. 3–5 show the corrected results. The DWBA calculation changed the most. In the original paper, the DWBA had unphysical side lobes for the 3 p state aligned in the scattering plane (Figs. 4 and 5). These side lobes are either reduced or eliminated in the corrected DWBA. However, the main peak magnitudes are now much larger. There is a much smaller correction to the 3DW results. The good news is that overall the 3DW is now in even better agreement with experiment. The fact that both theories predict a zero cross section for alignment of the 3 p state perpendicular to the scattering plane (the y axis) did not change.