Cross sections for the elastic scattering of low-energy electrons by molecular fluorine: an approximate theoretical treatment using discrete basis functions

Abstract

Phaseshifts and total cross sections for the elastic scattering of low-energy (0-13.6 eV) electrons by molecular fluorine are presented. The phaseshifts are obtained by an approximate technique based on the weak asymptotic coupling of orbital angular momenta and are calculated solely from the results of a discrete basis set diagonalization of the molecular Hamiltonian. Correlation and polarization effects are not treated. The elastic cross section is dominated by a Sigma u+ shape resonance at about 2.2 eV in the static-exchange model.