Application of the method of continued fractions to multichannel studies on electronic excitation of H-2 by electron impact - art. no. 032707

In the present work, the method of continued fractions at a five-channel cl ose-coupling level of approximation is applied to study the low-energy elec tron-impact excitation in linear molecules. Particularly, cross sections fo r the X(1)Sigma (+)(g)-->b(3)Sigma (+)(u), X(1)Sigma (+)(g)-->a(3)Sigma (+) (g),and X(1)Sigma (+)(g)-->c(3)Pi (u) transitions in H-2 in the (15-40)-eV energy range are reported. As in our early two-state studies, no orthogonal ity constraint between the bound and continuum orbitals is imposed and the one-electron exchange terms are considered explicitly. In general, our calc ulated cross sections are in good agreement with the results obtained by th e four-state Kohn variational method. Comparison between our calculated res ults with available experimental data is encouraging.