Previous experimental measurements of the total white line intensities from L2,3 energy loss spectra of 3d transition metals reported a linear dependence of the white line intensity on 3d occupancy. These results are inconsistent, however, with behavior inferred from relativistic one electron Dirac-Fock calculations, which show an initial increase followed by a decrease of total white line intensity across the 3d series. This inconsistency with experimental data is especially puzzling in light of work by Thole, et al., which successfully calculates x-ray absorption spectra of the lanthanide M4,5 white lines by employing a less rigorous Hartree-Fock calculation with relativistic corrections based on the work of Cowan. When restricted to transitions allowed by dipole selection rules, the calculated spectra of the lanthanide M4,5 white lines show a decreasing intensity as a function of Z that was consistent with the available experimental data.Here we report the results of Dirac-Fock calculations of the L2,3 white lines of the 3d and 4d elements, and compare the results to the experimental work of Pearson et al. In a previous study, similar calculations helped to account for the non-statistical behavior of L3/L2 ratios of the 3d metals. We assumed that all metals had a single 4s electron. Because these calculations provide absolute transition probabilities, to compare the calculated white line intensities to the experimental data, we normalized the calculated intensities to the intensity of the continuum above the L3 edges. The continuum intensity was obtained by Hartree-Slater calculations, and the normalization factor for the white line intensities was the integrated intensity in an energy window of fixed width and position above the L3 edge of each element.
