Differential Cross Section for Vibrational Excitation of CO by Slow-Electron Collision

Abstract

By using the close-coupling method, differential cross sections are calcultated for the vibrational excitation v=0→1 of CO by electron collisions. First, the dipole interaction is considered to be responsible for the vibrational transition and the result is compared with the Born calculation. It is found that the Born result agrees well with the close-coupling calculation in the region of small scattering angles (\lesssim30°), although the agreement is rather poor for the total (integrated) cross section. Next, the effect of the target polarization is investigated. Finally, the angular dependence of the vibrational cross section is evaluated by taking both the dipole and the polarization interactions into account simultaneously and a comparison is made with experimental data. For a small-angle scattering, good agreement is obtained for the theoretical and experimental cross sections, while they differ significantly from each other in the region of large scattering angles.