Benchmark calculations for electron collisions with mercury*

We have applied our recently developed fully relativistic Dirac $B$-spline $R$-matrix (DBSR) code~[1] to calculate electron scattering from mercury atoms. Results from a \hbox{36-state} close-coupling calculation~[2] are compared with numerous experimental benchmark data for angle-integrated and angle-differential cross sections, as well as spin-asymmetry, spin-polarization, and electron-impact coherence parameters. We generally obtain much better agreement with experiment than previous distorted-wave and close-coupling attempts. The results are believed to be particularly accurate in the low-energy (below 10~eV) near-threshold regime and hence represent a significant improvement over frequently used older datasets for modeling of low-temperature plasmas containing mercury.\\[4pt] [1] O.~Zatsarinny and K.~Bartschat, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 77}, 062701 (2008).\\[0pt] [2] O.~Zatsarinny and K.~Bartschat, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 79}, 042713 (2009).