Dynamics of electron-molecule collisions

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:7020682

Lima, M A.P.

A multichannel formulation was developed for low-energy electron-molecule collisions based on the Schwinger variational method. An important feature of this formulation is that it is capable of dealing with some important aspects of electron-molecule collisions such as electronically inelastic scattering and nonlinear targets. The formulation also allows for the inclusion of a substantial number of closed electronic channels to represent polarization effects, which are very important at low-impact energies. To assess the accuracy with which polarization is represented in this formulation, elastic integral and differential cross sections for e-H/sub 2/ collisions were calculated. Very good agreement was obtained between the results and available theoretical and experimental data. Also examined were the shape resonances in e-CO and e-N/sub 2/ collisions, where polarization plays a very important role in determining the resonance parameters. The first application to electron-nonlinear molecule collisions was for e-CH/sub 4/ scattering. At the static-exchange level of approximation, the differential cross sections are in very good agreement with existing measurements at about 7 eV and higher energies. For incident energies below this an interesting feature of the small angle differential cross sections is seen only when polarization effects are included in the calculation. Also obtained were elastic differential and momentum transfer cross sections for e-H/sub 2/O scattering.

• Research Organization: California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7020682
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640304* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Collision Phenomena
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALKANES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COLLISIONS
CROSS SECTIONS
DATA
ELECTRON COLLISIONS
ELECTRON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
ELEMENTS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
METHANE
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLARIZATION
SCHWINGER VARIATIONAL METHOD
THEORETICAL DATA
VARIATIONAL METHODS
WATER