Rayleigh scattering of x–rays by many–electron ions

Synopsis A theoretical investigation is presented for the elastic Rayleigh scattering of photons by many-electron ions. Special attention is paid to the question how the charge state and shell structure of the target ions affect the angular distribution and linear polarization of scattered light. Calculations are performed for helium-, neon- and argon-like heavy ions and for a wide range of the photon energies.