Rotationally inelastic cross-sections and parameters of the potential energy surface

The rotational transitions in a model homonuclear diatomic molecule-atom system has been studied by using the modified version of the infinite order sudden approximation, to investigate the relative importance of different parameters of the potential energy surface. For the potential V(r,θ)=Cesup(-ar)[1+ΣalPl(cosθ)] it is found that the cross-sections satisfy the equation σ(0→l)=Acl2, where A is constant that does not depend on al and l, and cl=bl/ (1+Σ/bl) with bl=al /√(l+(1/2)). The importance of this result, specially, in explaining the existence of scaling and fitting laws has been discussed. (author). 10 refs., 3 tabs