Electron-Impact Cross Sections and Energy Deposition in Molecular Hydrogen

Using the concept of the generalized oscillator strength in the Born-Bethe approximation together with semiphenomenological techniques previously developed, we synthesize a diverse body of experimental and theoretical data on molecular hydrogen into sets of analytical electron-impact cross sections. We include in our analysis discrete, vibrational, and dissociative excitations, together with direct and dissociative ionization. Once the important cross sections are known, it is then possible to trace the energy degradation of an incident electron upon molecular hydrogen. We give results for the electron loss function, efficiencies, and eV/ion pair together with comparison to available experimental data.