On the collision dynamics in a molecular model

Abstract

We study the problem of the hydrogen atom submitted to a circularly polarized microwave field. This problem, analyzed from a classical mechanics approach, can be modeled by an autonomous Hamiltonian depending on one parameter K>0. The paper is focused on the so called n-ejection–collision orbits (n-EC orbits), that is orbits that the electron describes when it ejects from the nucleus and collides with it at the n relative minimum in the distance with respect to the nucleus. In this work, we analyze the evolution of the families of n-EC orbits. We conduct a comprehensive numerical analysis of the bifurcations, which involves multiple precision computations, to characterize the successive bifurcation families that emerge. Additionally, we examine the periodic and quasi-periodic motion of the n-EC orbits belonging to these bifurcation families.