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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.

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At least 109 records · Page 6

Inelastic scattering in atom-diatomic molecule collisions. I - Rotational transitions in the sudden approximation

The impact parameter method and the sudden approximation are applied to determine the total probability of inelastic rotational transitions arising from a collision of an atom and a homonuclear diatomic molecule at large impact parameters. An analytical approximation to this probability is found for conditions where the electron exchange or overlap forces dominate the scattering. An approximate upper bound to the range of impact parameters for which rotational scattering can be important is determined. In addition, an estimate of the total inelastic cross section is found at conditions for which a statistical model describes the scattering well. The results of this analysis are applied to Ar-O2 collisions and may be readily applied to other combinations of atoms and molecules.

Stallcop, J. R.↗

Theory of atomic transitions

Transition probabilities of atomic collisions, elastic scattering of electrons, and excitation functions

ELECTRON COLLISION↗

Inelastic scattering in atom-diatomic molecule collisions. II - Effect of rotation on vibrational transition

Rotational and vibrational transitions in a diatomic molecule caused by collisions with an atom are analyzed by a semiclassical method for conditions where the rotational transitions can be handled well by the sudden approximation and the vibrational transitions belong to the adiabatic regime. The contribution to the vibrational transition probability from the correction, which takes the finite value of the spacing between rotational energy levels into account, is examined.-

Stallcop, J. R.↗

Collisions of Electrons with Atomic Oxygen: Current Status

In 1990, two significant reviews of electron-atomic-oxygen collision processes were published. Since that time, a large volume of both experimental and theoretical research into these processes has occurred. These data are reviewed and recommendations regarding existing data sets and future research in this area are made. Attention is given to the challenges associated with handling atomic oxygen in terms of both experiment and theory.

Johnson, P. V.↗

Potential Energy Curves and Collisions Integrals of Air Components: Interactions Involving Ionized Atoms - 2

Collision integrals are fundamental quantities required to determine the transport properties of the environment surrounding aerospace vehicles in the upper atmosphere. These collision integrals can be determined as a function of temperature from the potential energy curves describing the atomic and molecular collisions. Ab initio calculations provide a practical method of computing the required interaction potentials. In this work we will discuss recent advances in scattering calculations with an emphasis on the accuracy that is obtainable. Results for interactions of the atoms and ionized atoms of nitrogen and oxygen will be reviewed and their application to the determination of transport properties, such as diffusion and viscosity coefficients, will be examined.

Stallcop, James R.↗

Collision matrix elements near a pseudocrossing of potential energy curves.

The cross sections of certain inelastic atomic collision processes can be determined from the matrix elements of the collision operator, d/dR, where R is the separation of the colliding atoms. At one extreme, the matrix element may pass through zero near a pseudocrossing of potential energy curves, while at the other extreme, it may pass through a maximum. The resulting cross sections are entirely different in magnitude and in energy dependence. An attempt is made to predict the qualitative behavior of the collision matrix elements with variations in R from an analysis of the Born-Oppenheimer adiabatic Hamiltonian. The modifications caused by a second pseudocrossing with a third adiabatic state are studied.

Oppenheimer, M.↗

An angular momentum approximation for molecular collisions in the presence of intense laser radiation

An approximation to a previously presented rigorous description of molecular (atom-atom) collisions occurring in the presence of intense radiation is investigated. This rigorous description explicitly considers the angular momentum transferred between the molecule and the radiation field in the absorption or emission of a photon, but involves a complicated system of close-coupled equations which must be solved independently for each projection M of the initial, total molecular angular momentum. (This is a direct consequence of the lack of rotational invariance in the molecule-field problem). These equations are solved for a model system which mimics the collision of a halogen with a rare gas atom. Empirical observations made in the course of performing these calculations lead to the development of an approximation which avoids the repeated calculations for each initial M. This orientational average approximation greatly reduces the effort required to describe the system, and for the model calculation, yields accurate results for field intensities as high as 10 GW/sq cm.

Devries, P. L.↗

Annihilation in Gases and Galaxies

This publication contains most of the papers, both invited and contributed, that were presented at the Workshop of Annihilation in Gases and Galaxies. This was the fifth in a biennial series associated with the International Conference on the Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions. Subjects covered included the scattering and annihilation of positrons and positronium atoms in various media, including those of astrophysical interest. In addition, the topics of antimatter and dark matter were covered.

Drachman, Richard J.↗

Broadening of the D lines and the relaxation of the resonance levels of sodium due to collisions with helium.

Calculated potentials for the NaHe molecule are used to obtain collision-induced widths and shifts for the sodium D lines together with cross sections for fine-structure transitions and the relaxation of the multipole polarizations of the resonance levels. The atomic collision is treated in an adiabatic approximation in which the colliding atoms form a molecular system which rotates during the collision. We find the resonance lines to be broadened equally and to be approximately 70% wider, and with associated shifts of an order of magnitude smaller, than expected on the basis of van der Waals forces. The dependence of the cross sections for relaxation of the multipole polarizations of the resonance levels on the molecular-coupling conditions and the rotation of the system during collision is discussed and indicates a limitation of the sum rule for these cross sections.

Lewis, E. L.↗

Collisions between hydrogen atoms and helium ions

By the use of a new theory developed for collisions between atomic hydrogen and arbitrary ions or atoms, the cross section for the direct excitation process He(+)(1s) + H(1s) yields He(+)(2s) + H(Sigma) in which the H atom is left in any discrete or continuum final state is calculated. The results are compared with other theories and with recent measurements for He-3(+) energies between 22 and 346 keV. The theory predicts a maximum near 84 keV, in excellent agreement with the data. Above 200 keV all theories yield cross sections which do not decrease rapidly enough with increasing energy when compared with the data.

Franco, V.↗

Detailed numerical simulations of laser cooling processes

We developed a detailed semiclassical numerical code of the forces applied on atoms in optical and magnetic fields to increase the understanding of the different roles that light, atomic collisions, background pressure, and number of particles play in experiments with laser cooled and trapped atoms.

numerical simulations laser cooling processes↗

Rotational excitation of hydrogen molecules by collisions with hydrogen atoms

Rate constants for rotational excitation of hydrogen molecules by collisions with hydrogen atoms have been obtained from quantum-mechanical calculations for kinetic temperatures between 100 and 5000 K. These calculations involve the rigid-rotator approximation, but other possible sources of error should be small. The calculations indicate that the early values of Nishimura are larger than accurate rigid-rotator values by about a factor of 20 or more.

Green, S.↗