The dissociative recombination of OH+

A theoretical study of the dissociative recombination of SH+ with electrons through the 2Π states of SH

A quantitative theoretical study of the dissociative recombination of SH+ with electrons has been carried out. Multireference, configuration interaction calculations were used to determine accurate potential energy curves for SH+ and SH. The block diagonalization method was used to disentangle strongly interacting SH valence and Rydberg states and to construct a diabatic Hamiltonian whose diagonal matrix elements provide the diabatic potential energy curves. The off-diagonal elements are related to the electronic valence-Rydberg couplings. Cross sections and rate coefficients for the dissociative recombination reaction were calculated with a stepwise version of the multichannel quantum defect theory, using the molecular data provided by the block diagonalization method. The calculated rates are compared with the most recent measurements performed on the ion Test Storage Ring (TSR) in Heidelberg, Germany.

Role of excited core Rydberg states in dissociative recombination

Intermediate states formed during the dissociative recombination of molecular ions with electrons can play significant roles in determining the magnitude of the total rate coefficient. These resonances are Rydberg states of two types, that is, they can have the ground or excited states of the ion as a core. Those with the excited cores have a fundamentally different excitation mechanism than those with the ground state core. The importance of excited core states in dissociative recombination has received only limited attention in the literature. Theoretical calculations on the dissociative recombination of N2+ are reported which compare the two types of resonances. Potential curves, electronic widths, cross sections, and rate coefficients are calculated for dissociative recombination along the 2(1)Sigma(g)+ state, one of several routes for the dissociative recombination of N2+. The ground core resonances, in this example, are relatively unimportant compared to those with the excited core. Inclusion of the excited core resonances increases the rate coefficient by about a factor of 4 at room temperature, but the increase is not enough to establish 2(1)Sigma(g)+ as the dominant dissociative route.

DISSOCIATIVE RECOMBINATION WITH ION STORAGE RINGS

The development of heavy-ion storage-cooler rings for atomic physics has made it possible to produce high-quality beams of molecular ions that are internally cold. The stored molecular-ion beam is immersed in a cold electron bath, which gives a beam of low divergence and small cross-sectional area. The electron cooler also serves as a target for electron-molecular ion collision experiments. This allows the study of dissociative recombination of cold molecules with respect to cross sections, branching ratios, and angular distributions at an unprecedented luminosity.