https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2002-00207-y
Collisional deexcitation of exotic hydrogen atoms in highly excited states
I. Cross-sections
1
Paul Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
2
Institut für Theoretische Physik der Universität Zürich,
Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
Corresponding author: a thomas@physik.unizh.ch
Received:
28
May
2002
Published online:
15
October
2002
The deexcitation of exotic hydrogen atoms in highly excited states
in collisions with hydrogen molecules has been studied using
the classical-trajectory Monte Carlo method. The Coulomb transitions
with large change of principal quantum number n have been found to be the
dominant collisional deexcitation mechanism at high n. The molecular
structure of the hydrogen target is shown to be essential for the dominance
of transitions with large 
. The external Auger effect has been
studied in the eikonal approximation. The resulting partial wave cross-sections
are consistent with unitarity and provide a more reliable input for cascade calculations than
the previously used Born approximation.
PACS: 34.50.-s – Scattering of atoms and molecules / 36.10.-k – Exotic atoms and molecules (containing mesons, muons, and other unusual particles)
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2002
