Ionization of water molecules by proton impact: Two nonperturbative studies of the electron-emission spectra

Abstract

Two nonperturbative methods are applied to obtain total and singly differential (in the electron energy) cross sections of electron emission in proton collisions with H${}_{2}$O at impact energies in the range 10 keV $\ensuremath{\le}{E}_{\mathrm{p}}\ensuremath{\le}$ 5 MeV. Both methods, one classical and one semiclassical, combine an independent particle treatment with a multicenter model potential description of the target. The excellent agreement obtained with experimental data supports the usefulness of the approximations involved and encourages the study of more complex systems.