NEW COUPLED-STATE EQUATION FOR ION-ATOM COLLISIONS uri icon

abstract

  • A new coupled-state expansion for the system wavefunction in an ion-atom collision problem is presented in the form of an integral equation. This new approach has the property that it is not unitary in the sense that the norm of the wavefunction is not equal to unity at all times. It thus allows ionised electrons to leave the target region, as they should but are not allowed to in conventional approaches. Although this problem with conventional coupled-state expansions is present in both one- and two-centred expansions, the new approach applies specifically to the case of one-centred (target-centred) expansions of the wavefunction. With this approach may it be possible to carry out efficiently coupled-state calculations in a target-centred finite Hilbert basis that will remain accurate even when ionisation is dominant.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF PHYSICS B-ATOMIC MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS

author list (cited authors)

  • READING, J. F., & FORD, A. L.

citation count

  • 27

complete list of authors

  • READING, JF||FORD, AL

publication date

  • April 1979