Application of the method of continued fractions to electron scattering by polyatomic molecules

Abstract

A new computational code based on the method of continued fractions is developed to study low-energy electron scattering by polyatomic molecules with arbitrary symmetry. As a first application, this code is used to study elastic electron scattering by four representative molecules with different symmetries, viz., H2, CH4, H2O, and NH3. The calculated physical quantities such as reactance K̃ matrices, differential cross sections, etc, converge rapidly. Also, our calculated cross sections are in good agreement with other available theoretical and/or experimental data, confirming that this is an efficient method for studying electron molecule scattering. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.