The scattering of thermal electrons by carbon monoxide

Close-coupling calculations are carried out for the scattering of electrons with energies up to 0.1 eV by a rigid rotator with dipole and quadrupole moments equal to those of carbon monoxide. By appropriate choice of the short range potential, the experimental data on CO momentum transfer cross sections can be closely reproduced. For the scattering of thermal electrons, CO is similar to N 2 with the addition of a permanent dipole moment. The observed cross section minimum occurs through the addition of the decreasing electron-dipole contribution and an increasing spherically symmetric short range contribution.