This paper presents an analysis of the energy distribution of the outgoing electrons in the double ionization of helium by photons with energies much larger than the ionization potential. The analysis improves on the one carried out by Amusia et al. [J. Phys. B 8, 1248 (1975)] in the framework of the special model for the wave function of helium. Now the energy distribution is expressed through certain expectation values averaged over the initial state described by the wave function of the general form Ψ(${\mathit{r}}_1$,${\mathit{r}}_2$). A larger interval of values of photon energies is considered. The limit equations for the angular distribution are obtained. The general features of the process with heavier atoms are also analyzed.

• Received 13 April 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.52.3910