Eur. Phys. J. D 5, 1-4 (1999)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050221

Charge transfer in cluster-atom collisions

¹ Chemistry Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
² Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Theoretische Physik, 01062 Dresden, Germany
³ Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany

Received: 27 August 1998
Accepted: 4 November 1998
Published online: 15 January 1999

Abstract

Charge transfer in collisions Na + Cs () is investigated theoretically within a microscopic framework. It is shown that an understanding of the measured charge transfer cross-sections can be obtained only if the competing reaction channels (electronic excitations and fragmentation) are treated simultaneously and, in addition, if the initial temperature of the clusters in the beam is taken into account. The energy dependence of the cross-sections is predicted. An exotic charge transfer channel producing Cs^- is found to have a finite probability.