Treatment of ion-atom collisions using a partial-wave expansion of the projectile wavefunction
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- SANTA CLARA U
- MISSOURI U
We present calculations of ion-atom collisions using a partial-wave expansion of the projectile wavefunction. Most calculations of ion-atom collisions have typically used classical or plane-wave approximations for the projectile wavefunction, since partial-wave expansions are expected to require prohibitively large numbers of terms to converge scattering quantities. Here we show that such calculations are possible using modern high-performance computing. We demonstrate the utility of our method by examining elastic scattering of protons by hydrogen and helium atoms, problems familiar to undergraduate students of atomic scattering. Application to ionization of helium using partial-wave expansions of the projectile wavefunction, which has long been desirable in heavy-ion collision physics, is thus quite feasible.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 960458
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-08-04863; LA-UR-08-4863
- Journal Information:
- European Journal of Physics, Journal Name: European Journal of Physics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 30; ISSN 0143-0807; ISSN EJPHD4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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