On the angular dependence of differential and total M-shell X-ray production cross-sections

The article “Differential and total M-shell X-ray production cross-sections of some selected elements between Au and U at 5.96 keV”, published in NIMB 256 (2007) 581 claims that the measured data of differential photoelectric cross-sections for inner atomic shells has an angular dependence with the scattering angle. It is not possible to demonstrate the existence of a physical dependence on the angle between the paths of the incident and exiting X-ray beams from a sample based on this data with large experimental errors. A rigorous analysis of the article reveals that the description of the experimental set-up is deficient and incomplete, many assumptions are based on dubious grounds and the data reported is not statistically evaluated with the appropriate tools.