Inclusion of electron correlation for the target wave function in low- to intermediate-energy e-N2 scattering

In a recent calculation [C. A. Weatherford, K. Onda, and A. Temkin, Phys. Rev. A 31, 3620 (1985)] an exact exchange method was developed for use in the partial-differential-equation approach to electron-molecule scattering, and was applied to e-N₂ scattering in the fixed-nuclei approximation with an adiabatic polarization potential at low energies (0-10 eV). Integrated elastic cross sections were calculated and found to be lower than experiment at energies both below and above the Π_g resonance. It was speculated at that time that improved experimental agreement could be obtained if a correlated target representation were used in place of the uncorrelated one. The present paper implements this suggestion and demonstrates the improved agreement. These calculations are also extended to higher energies (0-30 eV) so as to include the Σ_u resonance. Some discrepancies among the experiments and between experiment and the various calculations at very low energy (<1 eV) are noted.