The ionization of He atoms, prepared in a well-defined (n=14)
1P Rydberg state, in collisions with electron-attaching molecules like
SF6 and
NO2, is studied in a crossed-beam experiment at thermal energies. The ionization cross section is observed to be large for
SF6, reaching 4.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}13}$
cm2, and to be smaller for
NO2, close to ${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}15}$
cm2. The dependence of these two cross sections on the relative velocity of the reactants exhibits a characteristic behavior with a saturation at low velocities, a dependence that is completely different from that obtained with polar molecules. The observation of such a dependence for
NO2 indicates that, for this molecule, the reaction product is an ion pair, as for
SF6, and that ionization is not due to rotational energy transfer even though
NO2 has a dipole moment. This dependence cannot be explained by the ``free-electron model'' usually used in Rydberg-atom--molecule collisions; it clearly shows that the interaction of the molecule with the ion core cannot be neglected.
We examine the effect of theoretically varying the collision-system reduced mass in collisions of He with vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen and observe zero-energy resonances for select atomic ``hydrogen'' masses less than 1 u or a ``helium'' mass of
1.95 u. Complex scattering lengths, state-to-state vibrational quenching cross sections, and a low-energy elastic scattering resonance are all studied as a function of collision-system reduced mass. Experimental observations of these phenomena in the cold and ultracold regimes for collisions of
3He and
4He with
H2, HD, HT, and DT should be feasible in the near future.
The ionization of low-Rydberg-state He atoms in the n
1P state (n=14) in collisions with the polar molecules
NH3,
SO2, and acetone (
C3H6O) is carried out in a crossed-beam experiment at thermal kinetic energies. The dependence of the experimental ionization cross sections ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{i}^{\mathrm{expt}}$ on the relative velocity of the reactants is obtained by a time-of-flight method. We observe that it varies mainly as 1/
vr2 in a large part of the studied velocity range, while a 1/
vr velocity dependence is predicted by the free-electron model for the higher Rydberg levels.
We report close-coupling (CC) quantum dynamics calculations for collisional excitation/de-excitation of the lowest four rotational levels of OD − and of OH − interacting with Rb atoms in a cold ion trap. The calculations are carried out over a range of energies capable of yielding the corresponding rates for state-changing events over a rather broad interval of temperatures which cover those reached in earlier cold trap experiments. They involved sympathetic cooling of the molecular anion through a cloud of laser-cooled Rb atoms, an experiment which is currently being run again through a Heidelberg–Innsbruck collaboration. The significance of isotopic effects is analysed by comparing both systems and the range of temperatures examined in the calculations is extended up to 400 K, starting from a few mK. Both cross sections and rates are found to be markedly larger than in the case of OD − /OH − interacting the He atoms under the same conditions, and the isotopic effects are also seen to be rather significant at the energies examined in the present study. Such findings are discussed in the light of the observed trap losses of molecular anions.
Nonadiabatic Dynamics and Rotational Coupling in
HeH+ Dissociative Recombination and Resonant Ion-Pair Formation
We present a time-dependent wave-packet study of dissociative recombination (DR) and resonant ion-pair (RIP) formation in
HeH+ isotopologues. Nuclear dynamics are treated on a manifold of 23 coupled electronic states of
2Σ,
2Π, and
2Δ symmetries, including rotational couplings between different symmetries.
The results reveal that inclusion of a large manifold of resonant states and rotational couplings significantly enhances the DR cross section relative to earlier theoretical studies. In the diabatic representation,
2Σ states dominate the recombination dynamics, while in the adiabatic representation,
2Π and
2Δ states contribute significantly at low collision energies. For RIP formation, two different diabatization schemes yield systematically larger cross sections than previous models, highlighting the sensitivity of ion-pair production to electronic coupling structure. Isotopic effects are examined, showing a clear inverse dependence of cross section magnitude on reduced mass. Thermal rate coefficients are computed over
102 to
2×104 K thermal electron temperatures.
Isotopic effects are examined, showing a clear inverse dependence of cross section magnitude on reduced mass. The results are compared with rotational-state-resolved experimental and theoretical results.
The present results highlight the importance of multistate coupling and rotational interactions in electron-driven fragmentation processes relevant to primordial and astrophysical plasmas.
A close coupling quantum-mechanical calculation is performed for rotational energy transfer in a HD+HD collision at very low energy, down to the ultracold temperatures: $T\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}$ K. A global six-dimensional H
2-H
2 potential-energy surface is adopted from a previous work [Boothroyd et al., J. Chem. Phys. 116, 666 (2002)]. State-resolved integral cross sections ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{ij\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{i}^{\ensuremath{'}}{j}^{\ensuremath{'}}}({\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{\text{kin}})$ of different quantum-mechanical rotational transitions $ij\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{i}^{\ensuremath{'}}{j}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ in the HD molecules and corresponding state-resolved thermal rate coefficients ${k}_{ij\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{i}^{\ensuremath{'}}{j}^{\ensuremath{'}}}(T)$ have been computed. Additionally, for comparison, H
2+H
2 calculations for a few selected rotational transitions have also been performed. The hydrogen and deuterated hydrogen molecules are treated as rigid rotors in this work. A pronounced isotope effect is identified in the cross sections of these collisions at low and ultracold temperatures.