https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-023-00687-5
Regular Article
Electron scattering on molecular nitrogen: common gas, uncommon cross sections
1
Institute of Plasma Technology, Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE), 37, Dongjangsan-ro, 54044, Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea
2
Department of Physics, Chungnam National University, 34134, Daejeon, South Korea
3
Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Informatics, Institute of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, 87100, Toruń, Poland
4
Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 32816, Orlando, FL, USA
5
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
Received:
1
April
2023
Accepted:
26
May
2023
Published online:
14
June
2023
We discuss peculiar features of electron scattering on the N2 molecule and the N2+ ion, that are important for modeling plasmas, Earth’s and other planets’ atmospheres. These features are, among others: the resonant enhancement of the vibrational excitation in the region of the shape resonance around 2.4 eV, the resonant character of some of electronic excitation channels (and high values of these cross sections, both for triplet and singlet states), high cross section for the dissociation into neutrals, high cross sections for elastic scattering (and electronic transitions) on metastable states. For the N2+ ion we discuss both dissociation and the dissociative ionization, leading to the formation of atoms in excited states, and dissociative recombination which depends strongly on the initial vibrational state of the ion. We conclude that the theory became an indispensable completion of experiments, predicting many of partial cross sections and their physical features. We hope that the data presented will serve to improve models of nitrogen plasmas and atmospheres.
© The Author(s) 2023
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