Electron-impact excitation of molecular hydrogen

Abstract

We report the electron impact integrated and differential cross sections for excitation to the b 3Σ+ u , a 3Σ + g , c 3Π u , B 1Σ + u , E, F 1Σ + g , C 1Π u , e 3Σ + u , h 3Σ+ g , d 3Π u , B’ 1Σ + u , D 1Π u , B’’ 1Σ + u ,and D’ 1Π u states of molecular hydrogen in the energy range from 10 to 300 eV. Total scattering and total ionization cross sections are also presented. The calculations have been performed by using the convergent close-coupling method within the fixed-nuclei approximation. Detailed convergence studies have been performed with respect to the size of the close-coupling expansion and a set of recommended cross sections has been produced. Significant differences with previous calculations are found. Agreement with experiment is mixed, ranging from excellent to poor depending on the transition and incident energies.