Rotational excitation of diatomic molecules by atoms. II. Comparison of correspondence principle results with other approximations and with close-coupling results

Abstract

For pt.I see ibid., vol.7, p.1916 (1974). A further study has been made of the strong-coupling correspondence principle approximation for the rotational excitation of diatomic molecules by atoms. While this approximation is expected to be most successful when the rotational quantum numbers are large, good agreement has been obtained with close-coupling results for the 0-2 total inelastic cross sections in He, Ne and Ar-N₂ collisions. Comparisons with close-coupling results for other transitions in Ne-N₂ and Ar-N₂ collisions are generally satisfactory. The connections with other work using semiclassical methods have been clarified and the numerical comparisons possible show reasonable agreement.