Symmetry Breakdown in Ground State Dissociation of HD{sup +}

Journal Article · Mon Jul 03 04:00:00 EDT 2000 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.58· OSTI ID:20217123

Ben-Itzhak, I ^[1]; Wells, E ^[1]; Carnes, K D ^[1]; Krishnamurthi, Vidhya ^[1]; Weaver, O L ^[1]; Esry, B D ^[2]

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1. James R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506 (United States)
2. Institute for Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 (United States)

Experimental studies of the dissociation of the electronic ground state of HD{sup +} following ionization of HD by fast proton impact indicate that the H{sup +}+D 1s dissociation channel is more likely than the H1s+D {sup +} dissociation channel by about 7% . This isotopic symmetry breakdown is due to the finite nuclear mass correction to the Born-Oppenheimer approximation which makes the 1s{sigma} state 3.7 meV lower than the 2p{sigma} state at the dissociation limit. The measured fractions of the two dissociation channels are in agreement with coupled-channels calculations of 1s{sigma} to 2p{sigma} transitions. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.

• OSTI ID: 20217123
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 85; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
BORN-OPPENHEIMER APPROXIMATION
DISSOCIATION
GROUND STATES
HYDROGEN DEUTERIDE
MOLECULAR IONS
THEORETICAL DATA