Electron collisions with CO molecule: potential energy curves of higher lying CO⁻ resonant states

Resonance energies and widths of eight long-lived metastable electronic states of the CO⁻ anion are obtained using the R-matrix method as a function of bond distance. High-level ab initio scattering calculations are performed for a large number (above 150) of fixed-nuclear geometries using the large cc-pV6Z Gaussian basis set and a close-coupling model involving 27 low-lying target states. Potential curves for narrow resonances, three ²Σ⁺, four ²Π and one ²Δ, in the 10–14 eV region are reported, along with the data on the low-lying ²Π shape resonance. These curves provide a starting point for performing nuclear dynamics and hence studies of dissociative attachment via these states. (paper)