State-selective charge exchange in collisions of multiply charged ions with H 2

Abstract

In this work, an improved classical trajectory Monte Carlo method is introduced to describe collisions of multiply charged ions with H2 molecules by merging two hydrogenic three-body models, conceived to improve the H(1⁢𝑠) electronic radial distribution, into the five-body treatment of Wood and Olson. Present results are contrasted against recently reported laboratory data and the multichannel Landau-Zener method for Ne9+ and O6+ projectiles at intermediate to low impact energies. A reasonable agreement with the data is obtained at the 𝑛-state selective level when considering a hydrogenic model that relies on an expansion over different nuclear charges. Complementary results for He2+ and Fe26+ projectiles suggest that discrepancies among these models accentuate as the projectile charge is increased and the collision energy is lowered, and highlight the need for further joint experimental and theoretical studies.