Collisions between Metastable Hydrogen Atoms at Thermal Energies

R. C. Forrey, R. Côté, A. Dalgarno, S. Jonsell, A. Saenz, and P. Froelich
Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4245 – Published 13 November 2000
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Abstract

The complex interaction potentials arising in the approach of two metastable hydrogen 2s atoms are calculated and the cross sections for ionization, excitation transfer, and elastic scattering are predicted. The measured cross section for associative ionization at E=4.1meV equals 2×1015cm2. We calculate a total ionization cross section of 2×1013cm2, varying as E2/3 at higher energies. Thus it appears that dissociative ionization is the major ionization channel. We find also that double excitation transfer into two excited H(2p) atoms is still more probable with the large cross section of 9×1012cm2 at E=4.1meV varying as E1/2 at higher energies. The detection of the resulting Lyman alpha photons would provide a diagnostic test of our predictions.

  • Received 12 June 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.4245

©2000 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

R. C. Forrey1,3, R. Côté2,3, A. Dalgarno3, S. Jonsell4, A. Saenz5, and P. Froelich4

  • 1Penn State University, Berks-Lehigh Valley College, Reading, Pennsylvania 19610–6009
  • 2University of Connecticut, Department of Physics, U-3046, Storrs, Connecticut 06269
  • 3Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
  • 4Department of Quantum Chemistry, Uppsala University, Box 518, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden
  • 5Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany

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Vol. 85, Iss. 20 — 13 November 2000

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