Ab initio calculation of the cross sections for electron impact vibrational excitation of CO via the (2)Π shape resonance.

The stabilization method is used to calculate the complex potential energy curve of the (2)Π state of CO(-) as a function of bond length, with the refinement that separate potentials are determined for p-wave and d-wave attachment and detachment of the excess electron. Using the resulting complex potentials, absolute vibrational excitation cross sections are calculated as a function of electron energy and scattering angle. The calculated cross sections agree well with experiment.