  Context. We present a theoretical review of the effect of impact polarization
of a hydrogen H$\alpha$ line due to an expected proton beam bombardment in
solar flares. Aims. Several observations indicate the presence of the linear
polarization of the hydrogen H$\alpha$ line observed near the solar limb above
5% and preferentially in the radial direction. We theoretically review the
problem of deceleration of the beam originating in the coronal reconnection
site due to its interaction with the chromospheric plasma, and describe the
formalism of the density matrix used in our description of the atomic processes
and the treatment of collisional rates. Methods. We solve the self-consistent
NLTE radiation transfer problem for the particular semiempirical chromosphere
models for both intensity and linear polarization components of the radiation
field. Results. In contrast to recent calculations, our results show that the
energy distribution of the proton beam at H$\alpha$ formation levels and
depolarizing collisions by background electrons and protons cause a significant
reduction of the effect below 0.1%. The radiation transfer solution shows that
tangential resonance-scattering polarization dominates over the impact
polarization effect in all considered models. Conclusions. In the models
studied, proton beams are unlikely to be a satisfying explanation for the
observed linear polarization of the H$\alpha$ line.
