Elastic scattering of electrons by benzene

Relative differential cross-sections for the elastic scattering of electrons from benzene have been measured at incident energies 300, 500, 700 and 900eV and for scattering angles between 30° and 120°. The results are discussed and compared with the independent atom model (IAM) calculations. Two different sets of scattering amplitudes for the constituent atoms of benzene were used in these calculations, one obtained from first Born approximation and the other from partial wave analysis of the Dirac equation. Only the static interaction was taken into account in the calculations. The higher the incident energy, the better is the observed agreement between experiment and theory. This indicates that at higher energies, absorption, exchange and polarization effects are not significant as compared to the static interaction and that the IAM satisfactorily predicts the interference of scattering from the individual atoms of C₆H₆.