Regular Article

Double ionization of water molecules by proton impact: the role of the direct ionization mechanism

¹ Laboratoire de Génie Electrique, LGE, Université Mouloud Mammeri de Tizi-Ouzou, 15000 Tizi Ouzou, Algeria
² Centre d’Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan, CENBG, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Bordeaux, 33170 Gradignan, France

^a email: christophe.champion@u-bordeaux.fr

Received: 5 May 2017
Received in final form: 1 December 2017
Published online: 21 June 2018

Abstract

The proton-induced double ionization process of water molecules is here theoretically investigated at high impact energy. The current 1st Born perturbative approach refers to an initial collisional state that both includes a target molecular wave function expressed as a single-center linear combination of atomic orbitals and a plane wave for describing the incident proton whereas the final collisional state is characterized by a scattered proton modeled by a plane wave and two ejected electrons modeled by Coulomb wave functions coupled via a Gamow factor. Total and partial cross sections are then provided and compared with existing experimental and theoretical data in considering the various dissociative channels. Additionally, a study of the energy dependence of the double ionization process is reported for impact energies ranging from 300 keV to 10 MeV.