Low-energy electron-collision processes in molecular chlorine

Abstract

The results of close-coupling calculations using the complex Kohn variational method are reported for a variety of low-energy electron-collision processes involving molecular chlorine. We report cross sections for elastic scattering and momentum transfer, as well as dissociative excitation of the five lowest electronically excited states ${(}^{1,3}$ ${\mathrm{\Pi }}_{\mathit{u}}$, ${}_{}{}^{1,3}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mathit{g}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$, ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathit{u}}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$) which are formed by promoting an occupied valence electron into an antibonding (5${\mathrm{\sigma }}_{\mathit{u}}$) orbital. We also report cross sections for the excitation of the lowest bound optically allowed states in ${\mathrm{Cl}}_2$. The cross sections, especially at very low energies, are found to depend sensitively on both target polarization and a proper balance of correlation effects in the N- and (N+1)-electron systems. Comparison is made between the results of this study and the limited body of experimental results available for this system.