Computational Investigation of Internal Excitation in Nonreactive Molecular Collisions: Resonances in Rotational Excitation

Abstract

Resonances in subexcitation molecular collisions are demonstrated by exact numerical solution of the close‐coupled integral equations for rotational excitation including closed channels in the total‐angular‐momentum representation. These results serve as a reference for comparing various approximate theoretical predictions. In particular, the limitations of the adiabatic approximation are exhibited. The resonance energies can be essentially predicted by a “best local” potential approximation. The resonance line shapes are fitted by a simple Breit–Wigner form.