Cross sections for electron capture and excitation in proton collisions with the metastable Be(2s2p3P) atom

Abstract

The two-center atomic orbital close-coupling method is employed to study electron capture and excitation processes in proton collisions with the metastable Be(1s2s2p P) atom. The interaction of the active electron with the Be ion core is represented by a model potential reproducing accurately (to within 3.5%) the energies of triplet excited states Be(1s2snl L) (at least up to n = 7). The excitation and state-selective electron capture cross sections up to the n = 5 shells of both centers are calculated in the energy range 1–200 keV/u using an expansion basis involving all the states with n ≤ 7 on H and all triplet states with n ≤ 7 on Be, augmented with a number of pseudostates. In the energy region below ~10 keV/u, the cross sections of both processes exhibit oscillatory structures, resulting from the multistate coupling accounted for in the dynamical model. It has been found that the magnitude of excitation cross sections above ~10 keV/u is dominated by the multipole interactions, while below this energy the excitation process proceeds through intermediate electron capture states.