The scattering of electrons by atomic nitrogen

Cross sections for elastic and inelastic scattering of electrons by atomic nitrogen are calculated over an incident electron energy range from threshold to 35 eV using the R-matrix method. In most of the calculations the eight target states 1s 2 2s 2 p 3 4 S 0 2 D 0 and 2 P 0 , 1s 2 2s2p 4 4 P e 2 P e 2 D e and 2 S e and 1s 2 2p 5 2 P 0 of nitrogen are retained in the expansion of the total wavefunction. However in some of the calculations fewer target states are retained in order to compare with the results of earlier work. Apart from energies close to the 1s 2 2s 2 2p 4 3 P e resonance state of N - the cross sections appear to have converged well.