A MODEL DESCRIBING INELASTIC PROCESSES IN LOW-ENERGY ELECTRON COLLISIONS WITH METHYL-CHLORIDE

Dissociative attachment and vibrational excitation processes in low-energy electron collisions with methyl chloride are considered. A theory based on a combination of the resonance R-matrix approach and the non-local-complex-potential approach is applied for the calculation of the cross sections. For the input data of the theory we use Falcetta and Jordan's calculation of the adiabatic potential curve for the CH3Cl- anion. The calculated dissociative attachment cross sections averaged over the thermal vibrational distribution are about three orders of magnitude less than those obtained in a beam experiment of Chu and Burrow. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are analysed. Vibrational excitation across sections exhibit a sharp threshold peak and a broad resonance with the position corresponding to the vertical attachment energy. We investigate also the sensitivity of the results to the input parameters.