Low-energy electron scattering by ${\mathrm{CF}}_4$, ${\mathrm{CCl}}_4$, ${\mathrm{SiCl}}_4$, ${\mathrm{SiBr}}_4$, and ${\mathrm{SiI}}_4$

Ab initio cross-section calculations of low-energy ${\mathit{e}}^{\mathrm{-}}$-molecule scattering have been limited to molecular targets composed of atoms with few electrons. We use soft norm-conserving pseudopotentials in both the target description and the scattering calculations to study molecules with hundreds of electrons. Comparison with all-electron calculations and crossed-beam experiments for the smallest molecule proves the high quality of the combined pseudopotential–ab initio technique. Our results for all other molecules compared to experimental data indicate that we have a very promising technique.