LOW-ENERGY ELECTRON-COLLISION PROCESSES IN MOLECULAR CHLORINE

The results of close-coupling calculations using the complex Kohn variational method are reported for a variety of low-energy electron-collision processes involving molecular chlorine. We report cross sections for elastic scattering and momentum transfer, as well as dissociative excitation of the five lowest electronically excited states (1,3PI(u), 1,3PI(g), 3SIGMA(u)+) which are formed by promoting an occupied valence electron into an antibonding (5sigma(u)) orbital. We also report cross sections for the excitation of the lowest bound optically allowed states in Cl2. The cross sections, especially at very low energies, are found to depend sensitively on both target polarization and a proper balance of correlation effects in the N- and (N + 1)-electron systems. Comparison is made between the results of this study and the limited body of experimental results available for this system.