ELECTRONIC EXCITATION OF H-2 BY ELECTRON-IMPACT USING SOFT NORM-CONSERVING PSEUDOPOTENTIALS

We calculate electronic excitation cross sections for the b (3) Sigma( u)(+) a (3) Sigma(g)(+) c (3) Pi(g), and d (3) Pi(u), states of H-2 by electron impact. Our results were obtained with the Schwinger multich annel method with pseudopotentials and real potentials at the two-chan nel level of approximation. Pseudo-H atoms are used to generate H-2 mo lecules with almost the same low-energy spectrum as the real molecules . We show that the dynamics of the electronic excitation process of th e pseudomolecules by electron impact is very similar to the real case. Our results support the idea that pseudopotentials can be used to obt ain reliable molecular electronic excitation cross sections by low-ene rgy electron impact, confirming the expectations of previous studies w ith CH2O [Bettega et al., Phys. Rev. A 25, 1111 (1993)] and HBr [Resci gno, J. Chem. Phys. 104, 125 (1996)].