Target isotope effects for vibrationally-resolved electron capture in low-energy collisions of O3+ with molecular hydrogen

Abstract

Using a quantum-mechanical molecular-orbital coupled-channel (QMOCC) approach, we investigate single electron capture in collisions of O³⁺ with various molecular hydrogen isotopomers (H₂, HD, T₂) for collision energies of 1 and 100 eV u⁻¹. Potential energy surfaces and nonadiabatic couplings obtained with the spin-coupled valence-bond method are incorporated into QMOCC calculations of vibrationally-resolved cross sections of the product molecular ion. The infinite order sudden approximation is adopted and comparisons of the vibrational distributions are made with the centroid approximation, which incorporates ionization Franck–Condon factors. Intercomparison of the results is used to assess the reliability of the approximations and to give insight into the target isotope effects.