Model potentials for electron scattering: Converged close coupling calculations for the differential cross section for e−N2 at 30–50 eV

Abstract

We have calculated the elastic scattering and rotational excitation cross sections for e−–N2 scattering at 30 and 50 eV using quantum chemical techniques specially designed to be applicable to elastic and inelastic electron scattering by general polyatomic molecules. The angle dependence of the sum of the elastic and rotational excitation differential cross sections is in good agreement with experiment at all scattering angles at both energies, but at 50 eV the difference from experiment exceeds the experimental uncertainty at small scattering angles and near the minimum of the differential cross section. At large scattering angles the rotational excitation cross sections are predicted to exceed the elastic scattering cross sections. The absolute cross sections agree with experiment at some angles but at other angles are as much as 51% (30 eV or 90% (50 eV) higher; this may be due at least in part to the difficulty of putting the experimental results on an absolute scale.