Electron-impact rotationally elastic total cross sections for H2CO and HCOOH over a wide range of incident energy (0.01–2000 eV)

Abstract

This paper reports computational results of the total cross sections for electron impact on H${}_{2}$CO and HCOOH over a wide range of electron impact energies from 0.01 eV to 2 keV. The total cross section is presented as sum of the elastic and electronic excitation cross sections for incident energies. The calculation uses two different methodologies, below the ionization threshold of the target the cross section is calculated using the UK molecular $R$-matrix code through the Quantemol-N software package while cross sections at higher energies are evaluated using the spherical complex optical potential formalism. The two methods are found to be consistent at the transition energy (\ensuremath{\sim}15 eV). The present results are, in general, found to be in good agreement with previous experimental and theoretical results (wherever available) and, thus, the present results can serve as a benchmark for the cross section over a wide range of energy.