ELASTIC-SCATTERING OF ELECTRONS BY METHANE MOLECULES

Vibrational elastic, rotationally summed cross sections for electron c ollisions with CH4 are calculated with ab initio static-exchange inter actions and using a symmetry-adapted, single-center-expansion represen tation for the close-coupling equations. The correlation forces are in cluded through density-functional theory and via a near-Hartree-Fock s elf-consistent-field description of the target wave function. Integral and differential cross sections are calculated over a broad range of collision energies, from the shape resonance region up to 50 eV. Compa risons with experiments and with previous calculations show that the p resent results indeed exhibit very good overall accord with measuremen ts at these collision energies and describe very efficiently the elect ron angular distributions as given by a very broad range of measuremen ts.