LETTER TO THE EDITOR Electron transfer in Li3+ + H collisions at low and intermediate energies

Abstract. A modified two-centre atomic orbital expansion is employed in a study of charge transfer in Li3++H collisions at 'Li impact energies E = 1.4-140 keV. Cross sections are calculated for transitions into individual Li2 * orbitals as well as into all bound orbitals. The calculated total transfer cross sections are in excellent agreement with existing experimental data but differ significantly from those of other model descriptions. In recent years, considerable attention has been directed towards an understanding of inelastic processes in collisions of highly charged light projectiles with hydrogen. A particularly intricate problem is that of describing charge transfer in the intermedi-ate- and low-velocity regions where molecular binding effects are of some consequence if not of decisive importance. A description of charge transfer processes within the molecular orbital (MO) picture becomes increasingly cumbersome with increasing projectile charge due to the large number of orbitals involved. The situation worsens more seriously when the collision velocity z1 increases such that it cannot be regarded as small compared with the mean electronic orbital velocity ue. For the intermediate-energy region, a perturbation approach has been presented recently (Ryufuku an