Neutralization and Detachment in H+–H− Collisions

Abstract

The cross sections for neutralization and detachment inH+–H− collisions in the energy range from 1.0 to100 keV/u are calculated using the two-centre atomic orbitalclose-coupling (TC-AOCC) method. The results are compared with theavailable experimental and theoretical data. It is found that theneutralization cross section agrees well with the experimental data bySchön et al. [J. Phys. B 20 (1987) L759] and Melchert et al., [J. Phys.B 32 (1999) L139] especially at low energies. However, for thedetachment process, our calculated cross section lies between theexperimental data by Melchert et al. and by Peart et al. [J. Phys. B 9(1976) 3047] for the energy below 15 keV/u. Above this energy, ourresult is smaller than the two experimental data. It is worth pointingout that there exists a large difference between these two experimentaldata and it is difficult to judge which data is more accurate.Therefore, a high-precision measurement for detachment cross sectionsis expected to resolve this discrepancy and to test the theoreticalcalculations.