Configuration interaction in the continuum states of molecules

The theory of configuration interaction is discussed in relation to molecular states which have sufficient energy to decay by electron emission or pre-dissociation. By considering the effects of electron emission a resonant scattering formalism is developed which is useful for electron-molecule collisions at very low energies. The application of the theory to pre-dissociation is demonstrated by an analysis of the recent study by Barrow et al . of the spectrum of selenium.