Propensity rule for the magnetic substate distribution in electron capture at high impact energies

Abstract

We prove the validity of a propensity rule for populating magnetic substates by electron capture processes in the intermediate and high-energy range by using the eikonal impulse approximation. This rule says that if the quantization axis is chosen to be perpendicular to the scattering plane, the $M=\ensuremath{-}l$ final substates are predominantly populated. A scaling rule in terms of the projectile charge is used to display results of the eikonal impulse and the continuum distorted-wave methods.