Abstract
Total inelastic cross sections are calculated for collisions of ground-state , , and with fast electrons according to the revised Bethe theory given by Inokuti et al. The asymptotic forms of the total elastic-scattering cross sections in the first Born approximation due to Inokuti and McDowell and including an electron exchange correction are also evaluated for these molecules. For , various accurate configuration-interaction wave functions are used to compute the total inelastic and the integral elastic-scattering cross sections. Good agreement between theory and experiment is found for the total cross sections (inelastic and elastic) for high incident energies as well as incident energies near 1 keV. The cross sections are also given for and . Since there are no experimental reports for the integral elastic cross section for or at very high incident energies, the comparison is made only for the experimental data at incident energies near 1 keV. It is found that the theoretical results overestimate the experimental data by about 30% for . However, the Bethe total inelastic cross sections are in good agreement with experiments. Since the Born-Bethe approximation may not be valid at lower incident energies, more accurate experimental data at very high incident energies are required for valid comparison with the theoretical results reported here.
- Received 20 May 1986
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.35.591
©1987 American Physical Society