Low-energy electron scattering from methane

Absolute differential cross sections for elastic scattering and vibrational excitation (nu(2.4), nu(1.3)) of CH4 have been measured at incident energies between 0.6 and 5.4 eV. These cross sections have also been extrapolated and integrated in order to derive integral and momentum transfer cross sections which are compared with the results of previous single-collision and electron swarm experiments. Elastic differential cross sections have also been calculated using a body-fixed (BF), single-centre expansion (SCE) for the close-coupled (CC) equations. There is excellent agreement between the present data and the most recent elastic scattering results of Boesten and Tanaka, but substantial discrepancies between these two data sets and several previous measurements. There is also excellent agreement at most energies between the present measured and calculated elastic cross sections.