TOTAL CROSS-SECTION MEASUREMENTS FOR E(-)-CO SCATTERING - 80-4000 EV

Absolute total cross sections for electron scattering on CO molecules have been measured between 80 and 4000 eV. For N2, new measurements wi thout thermal transpiration error allowed us to renormalize previous d ata from our group. For both gases, good agreement with recent measure ments and theory is observed. A semi-empirical fitting procedure allow s us to reproduce the experimental data for both gases from 50 to 4000 eV. The fit permits us to extrapolate total cross sections into high energies; at this limit N2 and CO total cross sections are equal withi n experimental uncertainties; the difference reported by Garcia, Campo s et al. has not been confirmed.