CORRELATION AND RELAXATION EFFECTS ON THE ELECTRON-IMPACT EXCITATION OF THE LYMAN-BIRGE-HOPFIELD BAND OF N2

The behavior of the generalized oscillator strength for the Lyman-Birge-Hopfield transition as a function of the transferred momentum is examined, using the Born-Ochkur-Bonham (BOB) approximation with correlated wave functions. It is shown that the experimental behavior can be well described in the region of small and medium k2 values, once orbital relaxation and electronic correlation effects are properly taken into account. For large k2 values the calculations deviate from the experiments due to the failure of the BOB approximation to describe this region. © 1990 The American Physical Society.