Inelastic processes from vibrationally excited states in slowH++H2andH+H2+collisions: Excitations and charge transfer

Abstract

A comprehensive study is presented of the scattering of protons on ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{i})$ and of hydrogen atoms on ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{i}),$ where ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{i}$ is any vibrationally excited state of the relevant molecules. Cross sections for charge transfer and excitation have been calculated in the range of center-of-mass energies 0.6--9.5 eV using a fully quantal, coupled-channel approach. An extensive vibrational basis set, defined in a large configuration space of the reactants, is used, including a large number of discretized vibrational continua. A detailed picture is produced of all inelastic processes that involve two lowest, nonadiabatically coupled electronic surfaces of the ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{+}$ molecule. The rotational dynamics of ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ and ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}$ are treated within the sudden approximation. The cross sections obtained are compared with the sparse data available from literature.