Collisions with Molecules

Abstract

AbstractSo far in this monograph we have considered the collisions of electrons, positrons and photons with atoms and atomic ions. In this chapter we extend R-matrix theory to treat electron and positron collisions with molecules and we also consider an extension of R-matrix theory to treat molecular multiphoton processes. The processes that occur in electron–, positron– and photon–molecule collisions are considerably more varied and challenging than those that arise in electron collisions with atoms and atomic ions, partly because of the loss of spherical symmetry and partly because of the possibility of exciting degrees of freedom associated with the motion of the nuclei in the molecule. In this chapter we consider developments of both collision theory and R-matrix theory which enable these additional aspects of collision processes to be accurately treated.KeywordsCollision Cross SectionElectron CollisionMultiphoton IonizationNuclear MotionTotal Wave FunctionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.