  We have implemented a three-dimensional finite element approach, based on
tricubic polynomials in spherical coordinates, which solves the Schrodinger
equation for scattering of a low energy electron from a molecule, approximating
the electron exchange as a local potential. The potential is treated as a sum
of three terms: electrostatic, exchange and polarization. The electrostatic
term can be extracted directly from ab initio codes (GAUSSIAN 98 in the work
described here), while the exchange term is approximated using different local
density functionals. A local polarization potential approximately describes the
long range attraction to the molecular target induced by the scattering
electron.

Chemical Physics;Atomic Physics