Quasiclassical representation for the cross section of vibrational excitation of molecules by slow electrons

Approximate (quasiclassical) formulas are derived for the vibrational excitation cross section of a diatomic molecule in the ground state colliding resonantly with a slow electron. The formulae are compared numerically with the quantum calculations performed by Herzenberg for scattering of 2.3 eV electrons by nitrogen molecules. The agreement of the calculations based on the formulae of the present paper and the experimental data is no worse than that for the exact calculations