The present paper explores possible features of electron elastic scattering off endohedral fullerenes $A@{\mathrm{C}}_{60}$. It focuses on how dynamical polarization of the encapsulated atom $A$ by an incident electron might alter scattering off $A@{\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ compared to the static-atom-$A$ case, as well as how the ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ confinement modifies the impact of atomic polarization on electron scattering compared to the free-atom case. The aim is to provide researchers with a “relative frame of reference” for understanding which part of the scattering processes could be due to electron scattering off the encapsulated atom and which could be due to scattering off the ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ cage. To meet the goal, the ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ cage is modeled by an attractive spherical potential of a certain inner radius, thickness, and depth which is a model used frequently in a great variety of fullerene studies to date. Then, the Dyson equation for the self-energy part of the Green's function of an incident electron moving in the combined field of an encapsulated atom $A$ and ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ is solved in order to account for the impact of dynamical polarization of the encaged atom upon $e+A@{\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ scattering. The Ba@${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ endohedral is chosen as the case study. The impact is found to be significant, and its utterly different role compared to that in $e+\text{Ba}$ scattering is unraveled.

• Received 18 August 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.042709