Resonant vibrational excitation ofH2CO by low-energy electron impact

Abstract

We report the results of a theoretical study of resonant vibrational excitation of formaldehyde by low-energy electrons. The cross sections were calculated by using a one-dimensional complex-potential model. The electronic resonance energies and decay widths needed in this treatment were extracted from fully ab initio scattering calculations carried out using the complex Kohn variational method at a number of different values of the C-O bond distance. The substructure observed in the calculated cross sections is in reasonably good agreement with the available experimental data.