Abstract
A triple-center atomic-state method is proposed for treating ionization in low-energy ion-atom collisions. This method intrinsically accounts for the Wannier mechanism, in which the electron will not have been removed in a slow collision unless it is asymptotically at the point of unstable equilibrium between the nuclei (the chosen third center). When applied to p-H collisions, the method shows that most of the ionized electrons stay near the third center and that direct Coulomb ionization and charge transfer to the continuum: accounted for by normal double-center methods: are less important: The triple-center method dramatically raises the cross section above that obtained using a double-center pseudostate basis, bringing it closer to the single early experimental curve at energies below 15 keV.
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