Neutralization and Detachment in H⁺--H^- Collisions

The cross sections for neutralization and detachment in H⁺--H^- collisions in the energy range from 1.0 to 100keV/u are calculated using the two-centre atomic orbital close-coupling (TC-AOCC) method. The results are compared with the available experimental and theoretical data. It is found that the
neutralization cross section agrees well with the experimental data by Schon et al. [J. Phys. B 20 (1987) L759] and Melchert et al., [J. Phys. B 32 (1999) L139] especially at low energies. However, for the detachment process, our calculated cross section lies between the experimental data by Melchert et al. and by Peart et al. [J. Phys. B 9 (1976) 3047] for the energy below 15keV/u. Above this energy, our result is smaller than the two experimental data. It is worth pointing out that there exists a large difference between these two experimental data and it is difficult to judge which data is more accurate.
Therefore, a high-precision measurement for detachment cross sections is expected to resolve this discrepancy and to test the theoretical calculations.