The magic angle: a solved mystery

We resolve the long-standing mysterious discrepancy between the experimental magic angle in EELS— ∼ 2 ϑ E —and the quantum mechanical prediction of ∼ 4 ϑ E . A relativistic approach surpassing the usually applied kinematic correction yields a magic angle close to the experimental value. The reason is that the relativistic correction of the inelastic scattering cross section in anisotropic systems is significantly higher than in isotropic ones.