Eikonal approximation for single-electron capture from hydrogen molecules by proton impact

Abstract

A four-body eikonal approximation is developed to study the single-electron capture process in collision of the fast protons with the hydrogen molecular targets. For a fixed orientation of the molecular axis, the double-differential cross sections are evaluated for electron capture. Interference patterns originated from the two atomic centres are obtained for different orientations of the molecular target. Equal-weighted average of the differential capture cross sections over all the possible orientations of the molecular target is calculated for various impact energies. Angular distributions of the differential cross sections for single charge transfer at various impact energies as a function of the angle between the axis of the molecule and the incident beam direction arecalculated and compared with their corresponding experimental values as well as the results obtained from other theories. Integrated cross sections are calculated and compared with available experimental data and other theoretical calculations.