Charge transfer in He2++Li collisions

Abstract

Cross sections for single-electron capture by He2+ from the L- and K-shells of Li atoms are computed in a wide range of energies between 1.9 keV and 1.6 MeV (lab) using the same atomic orbital expansion method and numerical techniques as those described in the companion paper by Ermolaev. It is confirmed that the preferential capture of the 2s electron from Li into the n=3 states of He+ persists for energies as high as 40-65 keV (lab). The present calculations also confirm that an experimentally observed high-energy shoulder in the total capture cross sections is due to an increasing importance, for energies of 100 keV and higher, of the capture of the K-shell electrons from Li. For low energies (1.9-5 keV) the computed cross sections are considerably lower than those recently calculated by Fritsch and Lin. This disagreement highlights the necessity of further theoretical and experimental studies of the reaction in this low-energy region.