CHIRAL EFFECTS IN ELECTRON-SCATTERING BY MOLECULES USING A CONTINUUM MULTIPLE-SCATTERING METHOD

We present a method for calculating chiral observables in the elastic scattering of electrons by closed shell molecules with particular emph asis on the molecules being large and containing more than one heavy n ucleus. We use an extension of the continuum multiple scattering metho d in which the molecular region is divided into 'atomic' spherical reg ions centred on each nucleus. The interaction potential in each region is the the sum of a spherically symmetric spin-independent term and a spin-orbit term; the interaction potential between the 'atomic' spher es and inside the molecule is constant. Solutions are obtained in each region, and between the regions; enforcing continuity of the solution s across region boundaries leads to a K-matrix and a scattering amplit ude, from which the chiral observables are obtained. The method is tes ted for HCl against a fuller treatment in which exchange and spin-orbi t interactions are included exactly. Applications are also made to HBr , Br-2, and two chiral molecules H2S2 and CHBrClF.