Quasielastic electron scattering from methane, methane-d4, methane-d2, ethylene, and 2-methylpropane

Quasielastic electron scattering from gaseous species at high momentum transfer was recently reported for the first time [Cooper et al., J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 155, 28 (2007)]. The first results for CH(4) and CD(4) were well explained by a classical electron Compton scattering picture in which the electron scatters independently from each atom rather than the molecule as a whole. However, an alternative possible interpretation in …