A quantum-mechanical study of rotational transitions in H2 induced by H

Cross sections have been computed for rotational transitions of H2, induced by collisions with H atoms, using a recent H - H2 potential calculated by Mielke et al. [1]. These results are compared with those obtained with earlier potentials. Significant discrepancies are found with results deriving from the potential of Boothroyd et al. [3] in the low collision energy regime. We compare also cross sections derived using different levels of approximation to the vibrational motion