Elastic scattering of low-energy electrons by N2 including the effect of target electronic correlation

Abstract A procedure to use configuration-interaction (CI) target wave-functions in the electron–molecule collision theory is applied to study the elastic e − –N 2 scattering in the (5–20) eV incident energy range. Correlated static and exchange contributions to the interaction potential are presented. Two different atomic basis sets are used. Differential cross sections (DCS) obtained by using Hartree–Fock or CI wave-functions are presented and compared. In the CI case, single and double, and single, double and triple excitations are considered. The effect of electron correlation is analyzed in all the cases. The continuum wave-functions were obtained via the Schwinger variational iterative method. The influence on the DCS of both the size of the atomic basis set and the inclusion of higher-order excitations in the CI calculation is discussed.