Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “ELECTRON COLLISION”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

New Accurate Oscillator Strengths and Electron Excitation Collision Strengths for N1

The nonorthogonal orbitals technique in a multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock approach is used to calculate oscillator strengths and transition probabilities of N(I) lines. The relativistic effects are allowed by means of Breit-Pauli operators. The length and velocity forms of oscillator strengths show good agreement for most transitions. The B-spline R-matrix with pseudostates approach has been used to calculate electron excitation collision strengths and rates. The nonorthogonal orbitals are used for an accurate description of both target wave functions and the R-matrix basis functions. The 24 spectroscopic bound and autoionizing states together with 15 pseudostates are included in the close-coupling expansion. The collision strengths for transitions between fine-structure levels are calculated by transforming the LS-coupled K-matrices to K-matrices in an intermediate coupling scheme. Thermally averaged collision strengths have been determined by integrating collision strength over a Maxwellian distribution of electron energies over a temperature range suitable for the modeling of astrophysical plasmas. The oscillator strengths and thermally averaged collision strengths are presented for transitions between the fine-structure levels of the 2s(sup 2)p(sup 3) (sup 4)S(sup 0), (sup 2)D(sup 0), (sup 2)P(sup 0), 2s2p(sup 4) (sup 4)P, 2s(sup 2)2p(sup 2)3s (sup 4)P, and (sup 2)P terms and from these levels to the levels of the 2s(sup 2)2p(sup 2)3p (sup 2)S(sup 0), (sup 4)D(sup 0), (sup 4)P(sup 0), (sup 4)S(sup 0), (sup 2)D(sup 0), (sup 2)P(sup 0),2s(sup 2)2p(sup 2)3s(sup 2)D, 2s(sup 2)2p(sup 2)4s(sup 4)P, (sup 2)P, 2s(sup 2)2p(sup 2)3d(sup 2)P, (sup 4)F,(sup 2)F,(sup 4)P, (sup 4)D, and (sup 2)D terms. Thermally averaged collision strengths are tabulated over a temperature range from 500 to 50,000 K.

Tayal, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Electron-atom /molecule/ collision processes

Electron-atom (molecule) collision processes at low and intermediate energies, from near threshold to a few hundred electron volts, are discussed. Attention is given to experimental techniques and procedures, electron impact cross sections, impact excitation and electron-atom scattering in laser fields. Specific examples are presented that illustrate various experimental techniques and interpretations of observations.

Trajmar, S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Laser Assisted Free-Free Transition in Electron - Atom Collision

Free-free transition is studied for electron-Hydrogen atom system in ground state at very low incident energies in presence of an external homogeneous, monochromatic and linearly polarized laser field. The incident electron is considered to be dressed by the laser in a non perturbative manner by choosing the Volkov solutions in both the channels. The space part of the scattering wave function for the electron is solved numerically by taking into account the effect of electron exchange, short range as well as of the long range interactions. Laser assisted differential as well as elastic total cross sections are calculated for single photon absorption/emission in the soft photon limit, the laser intensity being much less than the atomic field intensity. A strong suppression is noted in the laser assisted cross sections as compared to the field free situations. Significant difference is noted in the singlet and the triplet cross sections.

Sinha, C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Studies of electron-molecule collisions - Applications to e-H2O

Elastic differential and momentum transfer cross sections for the elastic scattering of electrons by H2O are reported for collision energies from 2 to 20 eV. These fixed-nuclei static-exchange cross sections were obtained using the Schwinger variational approach. In these studies the exchange potential is directly evaluated and not approximated by local models. The calculated differential cross sections, obtained with a basis set expansion of the scattering wave function, agree well with available experimental data at intermediate and larger angles. As used here, the results cannot adequately describe the divergent cross sections at small angles. An interesting feature of the calculated cross sections, particularly at 15 and 20 eV, is their significant backward peaking. This peaking occurs in the experimentally inaccessible region beyond a scattering angle of 120 deg. The implication of this feature for the determination of momentum transfer cross sections is described.

Brescansin, L. M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Energy deposition and K-shell ionization of supernovae

We present explicit evaluation of K-shell ionization caused by photoelectric absorption, by Compton scattering, and by electron collisions in supernovae envelopes. Each process derives from the radioactivity that dominates the bolometric luminosity of the model supernovae. We include the ionization by bremsstrahlung. We find that electron-collision ionization with decelerating Compton electrons is the dominant process of K-shell ionization for light elements (lighter than Si) whereas photoelectric K-shell absorption of Comptonized gammas is the dominant process of K-shell ionization for heavy elements (like Fe). The relative importance of the ionization processes also depends upon composition and upon time, as well as upon supernova type. For Type Ia all four ionization sources are of importance. We present fitting formulas for the deposition of radioactive power in each class of models studied. The energy deposition of all mechanisms decreases with time, including the rate of K-shell ionizations of all elements throughout the supernovae model evaluated herein. We compare the relative contributions to the energy deposition and confirm with greater numerical detail results already established.

The, Lih-Sin↗
NASA NTRS1978

On a method computing transient wave propagation in ionospheric regions

A consequence of an exoatmospheric nuclear burst is an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) radiated from it. In a region far enough away from the burst, where nonlinear effects can be ignored, the EMP can be represented by a large-amplitude narrow-time-width plane-wave pulse. If the ionosphere intervenes the origin and destination of the EMP, frequency dispersion can cause significant changes in the original pulse upon reception. A method of computing these dispersive effects of transient wave propagation is summarized. The method described is different from the standard transform techniques and provides physical insight into the transient wave process. The method, although exact, can be used in approximating the early-time transient response of an ionospheric region by a simple integration with only explicit knowledge of the electron density, electron collision frequency, and electron gyrofrequency required. As an illustration of the method, it is applied to a simple example and contrasted with the corresponding transform solution.

Gray, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Theory of plasma waves in the auroral E region

A general theory is developed for both electrojet waves and ion cyclotron and current convective waves observed above 120 km altitude. Previously defined electrojet instability theories are extended to encompass the effects of the magnetic field on ions and the presence of field-aligned currents. The ion-cyclotron (E) waves are assumed produced by the two-stream instability in regions dominated by ion magnetization effects. Field-aligned and cross-field currents drive the E waves, which have displayed threshold drift velocities (TDV) sensitive to conditions at altitudes with effective electron/ion and anomalous electron collision frequencies. The electron density gradients in the region affect the magnitude of the TDV for waves on scales of tens of meters. Recombinational damping increases the TDV for marginal damping of two-stream E waves and establishes a TDV for excitation of large-scale gradient drift waves which propagate nearly perpendicularly to the magnetic field and may have only 10-20 m wavelengths.

Fejer, B. G.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Effective collision strengths for electron impact excitations in S II

Electron impact collision strengths for forbidden, semiforbidden, and allowed transitions in S II calculated using the R-matrix method are presented. Configuration interaction wave functions are used to represent the six target states included in the calculation. At low impact energies the collision strengths are dominated by resonances for several transitions. The contribution from higher partial waves is obtained in the close-coupling approximation with exchange terms omitted. Results are presented for the effective collision strengths over a wide temperature range (5000-150,000 K) of astrophysical interest. The present results for the 4S(0) yields 2P(0) transition are 20-30 percent lower than previous calculations, while for the 4S(0) yields 2D(0) transition they are in good agreement. The results are approximately 30 percent higher than those of Ho and Henry (1983) for the 4S(0) yields 2P(0) transition at 80,000 K, and the difference between the two results increases with decreasing temperatures (under 80,000 K).

Tayal, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Interstellar grains in elliptical galaxies

We consider the evolution and heating of dust embedded in the hot interstellar medium of isolated elliptical galaxies. We first construct a new set of galaxy models spanning a decade in luminosity which we use to study the evolution of dust as it is ejected by stellar sources, merges and flows with the interstellar gas, and is sputtered away due to the presence of the hot gas. We find that although grains can flow a considerable distance from the parent star in some cases before being sputtering away, the grain size distribution at a given location is accurately determined by assuming in situ sputtering of dust grains as they are ejected by the parent star. We find that dust heating is dominated by absorption of ambient starlight. Heating due to collisions with energetic electrons in the hot gas and absorption of thermal X-rays is smaller by orders of magnitude. We also find that for the largest galaxy considered (L(sub B) approximately 10 (exp 11) solar luminosity) the energy lost from the hot gas due to electronic collisions with the dust is about an order of magnitude less than that lost due to thermal emission in X-rays. The gas in smaller galaxies loses even less of its energy via heating of grains. In deriving this result, we find that the inclusion of grain sputtering is a crucial ingredient of the calculation. The presence of dust grains is therefore energetically unimportant for elliptical galaxy cooling flow models.

Tsai, John C.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Electron-H2 Collisions Studied Using the Finite Element Z-Matrix Method

We have applied the Z-matrix method, using a mixed basis of finite elements and Gaussians, to study e-H2 elastic and inelastic collisions. Special attention is paid to the quality of the basis set and the treatment of electron correlation. The calculated cross sections are invariant, to machine accuracy, with respect to the choice of parameters a, b, d, e as long as they satisfy Equation (3). However, the log derivative approach, i.e., the choice a = -e = 1, b = d = 0 appears to converge slightly faster than other choices. The cross sections agree well with previous theoretical results. Comparison will be made with available experimental data.

Huo, Winifred M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Two-potential approach for electron-molecular collisions at intermediate and high energies - Application to e-N2 scatterings

A general theoretical approach is proposed for the calculation of elastic, vibrational, and rotational transitions for electron-molecule scattering at intermediate and high-electron-impact energies. In this formulation, contributions to the scattering process come from the incoherent sum of two dominant potentials: a short-range shielded nuclear Coulomb potential from individual atomic centers, and a permanent/induced long-range potential. Application to e-N2 scattering from 50-500 eV incident electron energies has yielded good agreement with absolutely calibrated experiments. Comparisons with other theoretical approaches are made. The physical picture as well as the general features of electron-molecule scattering process are discussed within the framework of the two-potential approach.

Choi, B. H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Rotational and translational effects in collisions of electronically excited diatomic hydrides

Collisional quenching and vibrational energy proceed competitively with rotational energy transfer for several excited states of the diatomic radicals OH, NH, and CH. This occurs for a wide variety of molecular collision partners. This phenomenon permits the examination of the influence of rotational motion on the collision dynamics of these theoretically tractable species. Measurements can also be made as a function of temperature, i.e., collision velocity. In OH (sup 2 sigma +), both vibrational transfer and quenching are found to decrease with an increase in rotational level, while quenching decreases with increasing temperature. This behavior indicates that for OH, anisotropic attractive forces govern the entrance channel dynamics for these collisions. The quenching of NH (sup 3 pi sub i) by many (although not all) collision partners also decreases with increasing rotational and translational energy, and NH (sup 1 pi) behaves much like OH (sup 2 sigma +). However, the quenching of CH (sup 2 delta) appears to decrease with increasing rotation but increases with increasing temperature, suggesting in this case anisotropic forces involving a barrier or repulsive wall. Such similarities and differences should furnish useful comparisons with both simple and detailed theoretical pictures of the appropriate collision dynamics.

Crosley, David R.↗