CALCULATION OF INTEGRAL CROSS-SECTIONS FOR VIBRATIONALLY INELASTIC ELECTRON-METHANE SCATTERING

Integral cross sections are presented for vibrationally inelastic elec tron-methane scattering. They were calculated by a method which is an extension of the single-centre expansion approach previously applied b y us to elastic electron-molecule scattering. The scattering wavefunct ion is first calculated within the adiabatic nuclei approximation, and is then substituted once into the Lippmann-Schwinger equation in orde r to correct for non-adiabaticity. This yields inelastic cross section s in good overall agreement with experiment. Threshold peaks are found in the cross sections for excitation of the infrared active modes. Th e results show that our method is a promising approach with which to i nvestigate the inelastic scattering of electrons from polyatomic molec ules.