A three-dimensional quantum mechanical study of vibrationally resolved charge transfer processes in H++H2 at <i>E</i>cm=20 eV

Abstract

A three-dimensional quantum mechanical study of vibrational state resolved differential cross sections for the direct inelastic and charge transfer channels of the H++H2 system has been carried out at Ecm =20 eV using the infinite order sudden approximation (IOSA). Steric factors, opacity functions, angular distributions, and integral cross sections are calculated. The integral cross sections are in very good agreement with recent experimental results, whereas the angular distributions agree only partially with the experiments. A further comparison of both the theoretical and experimental results with semi-classical calculations based on the usual trajectory surface hopping method revealed that the present quantum results provide a better description of the experimental observations. The likely shortcomings of the semiclassical method are discussed.