Relativistic yield spectra for H2

Abstract

We present a complete set of relativistic electron-impact cross sections for H2. Using these cross sections we calculate the yield spectrum, which is related to the degradation spectrum, using a modified form of the discrete-energy-bin (DEB) method of energy apportionment. In an appendix, we describe those modifications to the DEB approach which make its use practical in high-energy calculations. We point out the relatively simple form the yield spectrum has and we present an accurate fit to the yield spectra using a seven-parameter function. Lastly, we show that the observed dependences of both the yield spectra and ionization probability on energy lead to the approximate independence of the energy per ion pair as a function of incident energy at high energies.