Calculation of Elastic Differential Cross Sections for Electron Scattering by Molecular Hydrogen

Differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of electrons by H₂ at 100 eV and 150 eV have been calculated and compared with experiments. We use the momentum space method in which the electron-molecule system has a single centre and the interaction of electron-nuclei is expanded by a multipole expansion. The static exchange calculation is supplemented by a phenomenological polarization potential. Electron-molecule scattering is reduced to an electronic problem by the Born--Oppenheimer approximation, using closure over the vibrational and rotational states.