Inelastic collisions between an atom and a diatomic molecule. II. H+H2 rotational excitation

Abstract

The formulation and the numerical procedure developed in the preceding paper for solving close coupled differential equations in the study of scatterings of diatomic molecules by atoms are applied to rotational excitations of H+H₂ collisions. Converged results are obtained from three different potential functions suggested for this system. In addition to some new results, all previously reported results except one are essentially reproduced. The present close coupling results are drastically different from those of Wolken, Miller, and Karplus obtained using an identical potential. Detailed comparisons between results of close coupling calculation and of the distorted wave Born approximation are made for all three potentials and some general features of DWBA results are discussed. Correlations between genuine differences in cross sections and interaction potentials are found through S‐matrix elements which also serve as a test for the accuracy of the calculation.