In this note we conjecture that a sufficient condition for the existence of Wannier exciton states in a dense liquid is that an excess electron be accurately describable as a plane wave. Scattering processes then lead to a broadening of the exciton level. A theory of electron scattering in simple liquids is used to estimate linewidths, and the predictions are consistent with the data available. A number of predictions resulting from, and implications of, the proposed mechanism are considered.

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