AN IMPROVED MODEL DESCRIPTION FOR SINGLE ELECTRON-CAPTURE PROCESSES FROM H2 MOLECULES

Electron capture in collisions between ions and H-2 molecules is discussed in the framework of the close-coupling description. The dynamics of the individual electrons is given by a one-electron potential model but, in contrast to an earlier treatment, the norm of the total two-electron wavefunction is kept throughout the collision. Considerable numerical simplifications occur when the length of the molecular axis is set to zero. This model is applied to the example of 1-75 keV H+-H-2 collisions. Even for the weak channels of capture to 2s and 2p H states, calculated cross sections are found to agree well with experimental data in a range of energies.