DIRECT NUMERICAL APPROACH TO ELECTRON-HYDROGEN SCATTERING .2. L GREATER-THAN 0

The direct numerical approach using a finite-difference propagation al gorithm that we developed for electron-hydrogen scattering for total a ngular momentum L = 0 [Y.D. Wang and J. Callaway, Phys. Rev. A 48, 205 8 (1993)] is generalized to arbitrary L. This algorithm can treat the full Coulomb interaction of the two electrons. Since solutions are pro pagated outward to the asymptotic region, the propagation scheme is ef fective and suitable for extracting scattering quantities such as the S matrix and K matrix. The present algorithm is also attractive for it s handling of large data arrays, which is a key limit to the direct nu merical solution of partial differential equations in general. We appl ied this method to calculate phase shifts and resonances below the n = 2 threshold, elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections at energ ies between the n = 2 and n = 3 thresholds. Effects of long-range chan nel coupling were investigated. Detailed comparisons with other calcul ations are given.