Total ionization cross section for electron-hydrogen scattering using a time-dependent close-coupling method

A time-dependent close-coupling method is combined with a time-independent distorted-wave method to calculate the electron ionization cross section for hydrogen. A second-order differencing of the time propagator for the close-coupled equations is found to be very efficient. Low partial-wave close-coupling results are added to high partial-wave distorted-wave results to yield total ionization cross sections in excellent agreement with experiment between 30- and 50-eV incident electron energy. The distorted-wave method found most suitable for the high partial waves is based on a mixture of ${\mathit{V}}^{\mathit{N}}$ and ${\mathit{V}}^{\mathit{N}\mathrm{-}1}$ scattering potentials. © 1996 The American Physical Society.