Electron-impact vibrational excitation of molecular hydrogen*

Electron-impact vibrational excitation of molecular hydrogen in the ground electronic state is one of the most fundamental processes in electron-molecule scattering. The production of vibrationally-excited H$_2$ is of importance in modelling hydrogenic plasmas, as the cross sections for electronic excitation and dissociation have a strong dependence on the initial vibrational level. Above the electronic inelastic threshold, the dominant mechanism for vibrational excitation is electronic excitation followed by radiative cascade. Modeling this process requires a fully vibrationally-resolved description of the scattering problem. Previous calculations were performed with the impact-parameter method [Celiberto \emph{et al}, At. Data Nucl. Data Tables \textbf{77} (2001) 161], which is known to significantly overestimate cross sections. Using the CCC method, we have performed calculations of excitation-radiative-decay leading to vibrational excitation of H$_2$ [Scarlett \emph{et al}, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. \textbf{28} (2019) 025004]. At lower energies, direct vibrational excitation is the only mechanism for producing vibrationally excited H$_2$. Here we also present vibrational close-coupling calculations of electronic-elastic vibrational excitations at low energies.