Rotational Excitation of the HD Molecule by Slow Electrons

Effective cross section for the rotational excitation of the HD molecule by low energy electron (incident energy of the electron ranges from 1.0 eV to 13.6 eV) is calculated for the transitions of the rotational state from J =0 to 1, 2 and from J =1 to 2. The adiabatic approximation is used to obtain these cross sections. It is found that the rotational excitation cross section with Δ J =2 is almost the same as the e –H 2 result and that the cross sections with Δ J =1 are about 10% of those with Δ J =2 in the above mentioned energy region.