Large Impact Parameters Research Articles

ChemInform Abstract: Ne+ + C60: Collision Energy and Impact Parameter Dependence for Endohedral Complex Formation, Fragmentation, and Charge Transfer.

We report measurements of C60−2nNe+ and C+60−2n formation in collisions of Ne+ with C60 over a range from 2–212 eV (CM). Activation energies and crude angular information are given for each channel. Endohedral complex formation and fragmentation both require low impact parameter collisions, while charge transfer can occur with larger impact parameters as well.

Directly imaging damped Lyman α galaxies at z > 2 - I. Methodology and first results★

We present the methodology for, and the first results from, a new imaging program aimed at identifying and characterizing the host galaxies of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs) at z>2. We target quasar sightlines with multiple optically-thick HI absorbers and use the higher-redshift system as a "blocking filter" (via its Lyman-limit absorption) to eliminate all far-ultraviolet (FUV) emission from the quasar. This allows us to directly image the rest-frame FUV continuum emission of the lower-redshift DLA, without any quasar contamination and with no bias towards large impact parameters. We introduce a formalism based on galaxy number counts and Bayesian statistics with which we quantify the probability that a candidate is the DLA host galaxy. This method will allow the identification of a bona fide sample of DLAs that are too faint to be spectroscopically confirmed. The same formalism can be adopted to the study of other quasar absorption line systems (e.g. MgII absorbers). We have applied this imaging technique to two QSO sightlines. For the z~2.69 DLA towards J073149+285449, a galaxy with impact parameter b=1.54"=11.89 kpc and implied star formation rate (SFR) of ~5 M/yr is identified as the most reliable candidate. In the case of the z~2.92 DLA towards J211444-005533, no likely host is found down to a 3-sigma SFR limit of 1.4 M/yr. Studying the HI column density as a function of the impact parameter, including 6 DLAs with known hosts from the literature, we find evidence that the observed HI distribution is more extended than what is generally predicted from numerical simulation.

Galaxy group at z=0.3 associated with the damped Lyman α system towards quasar Q1127-145

(Abridged) We performed a spectroscopic galaxy survey, complete to m<20.3 (L_B>0.15L_B* at z=0.3), within 100x100" of the quasar Q1127-145 (z=1.18). The VLT/UVES quasar spectrum contains three z<0.33 MgII absorption systems. We obtained eight new galaxy redshifts, adding to the four previously known, and galaxy star formation rates and metallicities were computed where possible. A strong MgII system [W_r(2796)=1.8A], which is a known DLA, had three previously identified galaxies; we found two additional galaxies associated with this system. These five galaxies form a group with diverse properties, such as a luminosity range of 0.04<L_B<0.63L_B*, an impact parameter range of 17<D<241kpc and velocity dispersion of 115km/s. The DLA group galaxy redshifts span beyond the 350km/s velocity spread of the metallic absorption lines of the DLA itself. The two brightest group galaxies have SFRs of a few Msun/yr and should not have strong winds. We have sufficient spectroscopic information to directly compare three of the five group galaxies' (emission-line) metallicities with the DLA (absorption) metallicity: the DLA metallicity is 1/10th solar, substantially lower than the three galaxies' which range between less than 1/2 solar to solar metallicity. HST/WFPC-2 imaging shows perturbed morphologies for the three brightest group galaxies, with tidal tails extending 25kpc. We favor a scenario where the DLA absorption originates from tidal debris in the group environment. Another absorber exhibits weak MgII absorption [W_r(2796)=0.03A] and had a previously identified galaxy at a similar redshift. We have identified a second galaxy associated with this system. Both galaxies have solar metallicities and unperturbed morphologies. The SFR of one galaxy is much lower than expected for strong outflows. Finally, we have identified five galaxies at large impact parameters with no associated MgII absorption.

FORMATION OF TERRESTRIAL PLANETS FROM PROTOPLANETS UNDER A REALISTIC ACCRETION CONDITION

The final stage of terrestrial planet formation is known as the giant impact stage where protoplanets collide with one another to form planets. So far this stage has been mainly investigated by N-body simulations with an assumption of perfect accretion in which all collisions lead to accretion. However, this assumption breaks for collisions with high velocity and/or a large impact parameter. We derive an accretion condition for protoplanet collisions in terms of impact velocity and angle and masses of colliding bodies, from the results of numerical collision experiments. For the first time, we adopt this realistic accretion condition in N-body simulations of terrestrial planet formation from protoplanets. We compare the results with those with perfect accretion and show how the accretion condition affects terrestrial planet formation. We find that in the realistic accretion model, about half of collisions do not lead to accretion. However, the final number, mass, orbital elements, and even growth timescale of planets are barely affected by the accretion condition. For the standard protoplanetary disk model, typically two Earth-sized planets form in the terrestrial planet region over about 100 M years in both realistic and perfect accretion models. We also find that for the realistic accretion model, the spin angular velocity is about 30% smaller than that for the perfect accretion model that is as large as the critical spin angular velocity for rotational instability. The spin angular velocity and obliquity obey Gaussian and isotropic distributions, respectively, independently of the accretion condition.

Crossed-Beams and Theoretical Studies of Hyperthermal Reactions of O(3P) with HCl

The reaction of O((3)P) with HCl at hyperthermal collision energies (45-116 kcal mol(-1)) has been investigated with crossed-molecular beams experiments and direct dynamics quasi-classical trajectory calculations. The reaction may proceed by two primary pathways, (1) H-atom abstraction to produce OH and Cl and (2) H-atom elimination to produce H and ClO. The H-atom abstraction reaction follows a stripping mechanism, in which the reagent O atom approaches the HCl molecule at large impact parameters and the OH product is scattered in the forward direction, defined as the initial direction of the reagent O atoms. The H-atom elimination reaction is highly endoergic and requires low-impact-parameter collisions. The excitation function for ClO increases from a threshold near 45 kcal mol(-1) to a maximum around 115 kcal mol(-1) and then begins to decrease when the ClO product can be formed with sufficient internal energy to undergo secondary dissociation. At collision energies slightly above threshold for H-atom elimination, the ClO product scatters primarily in the backward direction, but as the collision energy increases, the fraction of these products that scatter in the forward and sideways directions increases. The dependence of the angular distribution of ClO on collision energy is a result of the differences in collision geometry. Collisions where the H atom on HCl is oriented away from the incoming reagent O atom lead to backward-scattered ClO and those where the H atom is oriented toward the incoming O atom lead to forward-scattered ClO. The latter trajectories do not follow the minimum energy path and involve larger translational energy release. Therefore, they become dominant at higher collision energies because they lead to lower internal energies and more stable ClO products. The H-atom abstraction and elimination reactions have comparable cross sections for hyperthermal O((3)P) + HCl collisions.

Crossed Beams Study on the Dynamics of the F-Atom Reaction with Ammonia

The F-atom reaction with NH(3) and ND(3) has been studied using the universal crossed beams technique. Angular resolved time-of-flight spectra were measured for the HF and DF reaction products. Product angular distribution and product kinetic energy distribution in the center-of-mass frame were determined from the experimental TOF spectra. Experimental results show that the HF and DF products are largely forward-scattered relative to the F-atom beam direction with a considerable amount of product at sideway and backward scattering directions. High-level ab initio calculation on the reaction energy pathway suggests that the forward-scattered products are mainly produced via a direct abstraction mechanism at large impact parameters, whereas sideway- and backward-scattered products are likely due to a long-lived complex formation mechanism.

Polarization changes of pulsars due to wave propagation through magnetospheres

We study the propagation effects of radio waves in a pulsar magnetosphere, composed of relativistic electron-positron pair plasmas streaming along the magnetic field lines and corotating with the pulsar. We critically examine the various physical effects that can potentially influence the observed wave intensity and polarization, including resonant cyclotron absorption, wave mode coupling due to pulsar rotation, wave propagation through quasi-tangential regions (where the photon ray is nearly parallel to the magnetic field) and mode circularization due to the difference in the electron/positron density/velocity distributions. We numerically integrate the transfer equations for wave polarization in the rotating magnetosphere, taking account of all the propagation effects in a self-consistent manner. For typical magnetospheric plasma parameters produced by pair cascade, we find that the observed radio intensity and polarization profiles can be strongly modified by the propagation effects. For relatively large impact parameter (the minimum angle between the magnetic dipole axis and the line of sight), the polarization angle profile is similar to the prediction from the Rotating Vector Model, except for a phase shift and an appreciable circular polarization. For smaller impact parameter, the linear polarization position angle may exhibit a sudden $90^o$ jump due to the quasi-tangential propagation effect, accompanied by complex circular polarization profile. Some applications of our results are discussed, including the origin of non-gaussion pulse profiles, the relationship between the position angle profile and circular polarization in conal-double pulsars, and the orthogonal polarization modes.

Dynamical Relativistic Effects in Breakup Processes of Halo Nuclei

The continuum-discretized coupled-channels (CDCC) method is used to study the breakup of weakly-bound nuclei at intermediate energies collisions. For large impact parameters, the Eikonal CDCC (E-CDCC) method was applied. The effects of Lorentz contraction on the nuclear and Coulomb potentials have been investigated in details. Such effects tend to increase cross sections appreciably. We also show that, for loosely-bound nuclei, the contribution of the so-called close field is small and can be neglected.

Momentum image of emission electrons in transfer ionization process of slow He2+ colliding on He

The velocity distribution of emission electrons in the transfer ionization process of 70keV He2+ colliding on He has been studied with a reaction microscope. These distributions show that the electrons lie mainly in the scattering plane which are observed to be emitted preferentially in the forward direction, lying between 0 and projectile velocity Vp. The distributions also display a typical two-fingered structure with a local minimum on internuclear axis. This characteristic can be qualitatively explained as being due to the interference between σ amplitude and π amplitude of electrons final wavefunction. It depends also on the impact parameters; the π amplitude contribution is dominant at small impact parameters, which leads to a symmetric velocity distribution around the internuclear axis. However, at large impact parameters the σ amplitude contribution increases relatively obviously, resulting in an asymmetric electrons velocity distribution around the internuclear axis.

Calculation to a prescribed accuracy of the transport cross sections for collisions between structureless particles

Careful analysis of multiple orbiting for collisions in classical mechancis shows that a larger impact parameter does not necessarily result in a larger orbiting separation. To take such possibilities into account, a new computer program has been developed for calculating the transport cross sections when a potential energy curve is supplied as a table of points. It is shown that the new program is superior to those used previously, but that it is not necessary to redo results obtained over the past 25 years in situations where transport cross sections were obtained to the requested accuracy by the previous programs.

Experimental investigation of transfer ionization mechanism in slow He2+-He collisions

The processes of transfer ionization in He2+-He collisions at energies ranging from 20 to 40 keV have been studied experimentally by means of cold target recoil ions momentum spectroscopy. From the longitudinal momentum spectra of recoil ions, different mechanisms of transfer ionization have been obtained. The results show that one of the electrons of helium atom being captured into the ground state of projectile ion He2+ and the other one emitted to the continuum state of projectile or target are the dominant mechanisms of transfer ionization. The autoionization cross section of projectile after two-electron capture into a double excited state is small. Transfer ionization for one target electron capture into ground state and the other one into the continuum of projectile mainly occurs at large impact parameter collisions.

Isospin Effects on Anisotropic Flows in Intermediate Energy Heavy Ion Collisions

Anisotropic flows per nucleon (v1/A, v2/A, v3/A and v4/A) of light fragments up to the mass number 4 as a function of transverse momentum per nucleon are studied for 55 MeV/nucleon 58 Fe+58 Fe and 58Ni+58 Ni at large impact parameters by the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model. The effects of symmetry energy and nucleon-nucleon cross sections, which are both isospin-dependent on anisotropic flows, are studied in detail. In comparison of the two systems with or without symmetry potential term, the results show that the strength of flows is sensitive to symmetry potential and nucleon-nucleon cross sections, which mainly cause a repulsion effect in this energy region.

Vibrational−Rotational Energy Distributions in the Reaction O− + D2 → OD + D−

The D(+) transfer reaction between O(-) ((2)P) and D(2) to form OD and D(-) was studied using the crossed molecular beam technique at collision energies of 1.55 and 1.95 eV. The reaction appears to proceed by a direct mechanism through large impact parameters. At both collision energies, more that 70% of the excess energy is partitioned into product translation. At the lower collision energy, the OD products are formed in the ground vibrational state with a bimodal rotational energy distribution. At the higher collision energy, both v' = 0 and 1 products are formed; ground vibrational state products have a mean rotational energy of 0.05 eV, corresponding to J' approximately 6. In contrast, OD products formed in v' = 1 are formed with significant rotational excitation, with the most probable J' approximately 15. The bimodal rotational distribution is rationalized in terms of trajectories that sample two potential surfaces coupled by a conical intersection in the vicinity of the [O...DD](-) intermediate that correlate to (OD(-),D) or (OD,D(-)) products.

Beam-size effect and particle losses at SuperB factory developed in Italy

In the colliders, the macroscopically large impactparameters give a substantial contribution to the standard crosssection of the e+e−→ e+e−γ process. Theseimpact parameters may be much larger than the transverse sizes ofthe colliding bunches. It means that the standard cross section ofthis process has to be substantially modified. In the presentpaper such a beam-size effect is calculated for bremsstrahlung atSuperB factory developed in Italy. We find out that this effectreduces beam losses due to bremsstrahlung by about 40%. Weperform a critical comparison of our result with that presented inthe Conceptual Design Report of the Italian SuperBfactory [3].

Convolution approximation for the energy loss, ionization probability and straggling of fast ions

In this work we describe an extension of the convolution approximation for the ionization probability and energy-loss straggling as a function of the impact parameter for swift ions. Analytical formulas for these quantities are derived and compared to full first-order Born calculations. The physical inputs of the model are the electron density and oscillators strengths of the target as well as the screening function of the projectile (in the case of dressed ions). A very good agreement is obtained for all impact parameters. In addition, we propose a general schema to add contributions from distant and close collisions. In this way physical processes arising from large and small impact parameters can be easily included into a single expression valid for all impact parameters. This model is then used to investigate the projectile-charge q dependence of ionization, stopping and straggling cross-sections.

Radioelectric fields from cosmic-ray air showers at large impact parameters

We discuss electric fields generated by cosmic-ray air showers at large impact parameters b. An approximation relevant to this situation is given. The formulation makes explicit the relationship between the shower profile and the radio pulse shapes at large b, putting forward one important observational consequence, namely the decrease of the high-frequency cutoff ν c ∝ 1 / b 2 when the impact parameter increases. The approximation is also used to give a detailed comparison between two emission models, the geosynchrotron model and the transverse current model.

On collisional energy transfer in recombination and dissociation reactions: A Wiener–Hopf problem and the effect of a near elastic peak

The effect of the large impact parameter near-elastic peak of collisional energy transfer for unimolecular dissociation/bimolecular recombination reactions is studied. To this end, the conventional single exponential model, a biexponential model that fits the literature classical trajectory data better, a model with a singularity at zero energy transfer, and the most realistic model, a model with a near-singularity, are fitted to the trajectory data in the literature. The typical effect of the energy transfer on the recombination rate constant is maximal at low pressures and this region is the one studied here. The distribution function for the limiting dissociation rate constant k(0) at low pressures is shown to obey a Wiener-Hopf integral equation and is solved analytically for the first two models and perturbatively for the other two. For the single exponential model, this method yields the trial solution of Troe. The results are applied to the dissociation of O(3) in the presence of argon, for which classical mechanical trajectory data are available. The k(0)'s for various models are calculated and compared, the value for the near-singularity model being about ten times larger than that for the first two models. This trend reflects the contribution to the cross section from collisions with larger impact parameter. In the present study of the near-singularity model, it is found that k(0) is not sensitive to reasonable values for the lower bound. Energy transfer values DeltaE's are also calculated and compared and can be similarly understood. However, unlike the k(0) values, they are sensitive to the lower bound, and so any comparison of a classical trajectory analysis for DeltaE's with the kinetic experimental data needs particular care.

Dynamical isospin effects in nucleon-induced reactions

The isospin effects in proton-induced reactions on isotopes of $^{112\ensuremath{-}132}\mathrm{Sn}$ and the corresponding $\ensuremath{\beta}$-stable isobars are studied by means of the improved quantum molecular dynamics model and some sensitive probes for the density dependence of the symmetry energy at subnormal densities are proposed. The beam energy range is chosen to be 100--300 MeV. Our study shows that the system size dependence of the reaction cross sections for $p+{}^{112\ensuremath{-}132}\mathrm{Sn}$ deviates from the Carlson's empirical expression obtained by fitting the reaction cross sections for proton on nuclei along the $\ensuremath{\beta}$-stability line and sensitively depends on the stiffness of the symmetry energy. We also find that the angular distribution of elastic scattering for $p+{}^{132}\mathrm{Sn}$ at large impact parameters is very sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which is uniquely due to the effect of the symmetry potential with no mixture of the effect from the isospin dependence of the nucleon-nucleon cross sections. The isospin effects in neutron-induced reactions are also studied and it is found that the effects are just opposite to that in proton-induced reactions. We find that the difference between the peaks of the angular distributions of elastic scattering for $p+{}^{132}\mathrm{Sn}$ and $n+{}^{132}\mathrm{Sn}$ at ${E}_{p,n}=100$ MeV and $b=7.5$ fm is positive for soft symmetry energy ${U}_{\mathrm{sym}}^{\mathrm{sf}}$ and negative for super-stiff symmetry energy ${U}_{\mathrm{sym}}^{\mathrm{nlin}}$ and close to zero for linear density dependent symmetry energy ${U}_{\mathrm{sym}}^{\mathrm{lin}}$, which seems very useful for constraining the density dependence of the symmetry energy at subnormal densities.

Low and intermediate energy electron collisions with the C−2 molecular anion

Calculations are presented which use the molecular R-matrix with pseudo-states (MRMPS) method to treat electron impact electron detachment and electronic excitation of the carbon dimer anion. Resonances are found above the ionization threshold of C−2 with 1Σ+g, 1Πg and 3Πg symmetry. These are shape resonances trapped by the effect of an attractive polarization potential competing with a repulsive Coulomb interaction. The Πg resonances are found to give structure in the detachment cross section similar to that observed experimentally. Both excitation and detachment cross sections are found to be dominated by large impact parameter collisions whose contribution is modelled using the Born approximation.

High energy gravitational scattering: a numerical study

The S−matrix in gravitational high energy scattering is computed from the region of large impact parameters b down to the regime where classical gravitational collapse is expected to occur. By solving the equation of an effective action introduced by Amati, Ciafaloni and Veneziano we find that the perturbative expansion around the leading eikonal result diverges at a critical value signalling the onset of a new regime. We then discuss the main features of our explicitly unitary S−matrix down to the Schwarzschild's radius R = 2G √ s, where it diverges at a critical value b ≃ 2.25 R of the impact parameter. The nature of the singularity is studied with particular attention to the scaling behaviour of various observables at the transition. The numerical approach is validated by reproducing the known exact solution in the axially symmetric case to high accuracy.