Application of the Method of Polarized Orbitals to the Scattering of Electrons from Hydrogen

The $s$-, $p$-, and $d$-wave scattering of slow electrons from atomic hydrogen is calculated by the method of polarized orbitals. Utilization of a transformation of Omidvar avoids the iterative procedure of solving the associated integro-differential equations. The $s$-wave scattering is smaller than that given by the exchange approximation, and the scattering lengths are within the upper bounds found by Rosenberg, Spruch, and O'Malley. The $d$-wave phase shifts are too small to explain a resonance in the total cross section. However, they are much larger than those of the exchange or Born approximation, and they give considerable structure to the differential cross-section curves. The $p$-wave phase shifts are not much increased by the polarization effects.