CHAOTIC SCATTERING OF ELECTRONS WITH HE+

We investigate the classical scattering patterns of an electron off a He+ ion. The scattering functions exhibit interesting self-similar structure, which can be interpreted in terms of the indefinite number of electronic returns to the vicinity of the nucleus, encounters among the particles, and Kepler-like electronic excursions during the collisional process. Based on this mechanism a binary coding is introduced to organize the dynamics of this three-body system and yields escape rates that vary with the sectional cut in the parameter space. The physical interpretation and the symbolic dynamics introduced here are generally useful for all three-body collisional systems.