Vibrational Excitation of CO by Slow-Electron Collision

Abstract

The cross section for the vibrational excitation v=0→1 of CO by slow-electron collisions is calculated using the close-coupling method. First, only the dipole interaction is considered to give rise to the vibrational transition and the result is compared with the Born calculation; it is found that the Born approximation gives a rather poor result in the present case. Next, the polarization effect of the molecule is taken into account. The contribution from the polarization term is shown to be comparable to that from the dipole interaction. Finally, the excitation cross section is evaluated by including both the dipole and the polarization interactions, and a comparison is made with experimental data.