SEMINARIO BIOFÍSICA-CIENCIA DE MATERIALES

Why do the one electron projectiles behave differently?

 

John R. Sabin

 

Department of Physics, Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida

and Institute for Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacology, University of Southern Denmark

 

Recent experiments on collision processes of O 7+ and N6+ ions colliding with methane at the same velocity show unexpected differences in the fragmentation cross sections of the methane. Despite the expected similarity of these two processes, as both projectiles are hydrogenic, the mechanisms of electron transfer are different and lead to different fragmentation cross sections. In the present work, the collisions between N 6+ and O7+ ions and methane are investigated theoretically at equal velocities corresponding to projectile energies of 30 and 35 keV, respectively. Electron-nuclear dynamics is used to study multiple electron transfer processes occurring in these collisions. Several multiple charge transfer probabilities are calculated and results, averaged over various orientations of the methane molecule, are reported. The collisions proceed in two stages: a fast stage of electron transfer from methane to the ion, and a much slower stage of breakup of the methane. We find and explain the intuitively unexpected result that the total charge transfer cross section for N6+ is slightly larger, but that the O7+ leaves the methane in a higher charged state with higher probability, leading to more fragmentation in the collisions with O7+.