Atomic-basis study of electron transfer into C3+(nZ) orbitals in C4+ + H and C4+ + Li collisions

Abstract. A modified two-centre atomic-orbital expansion is used in an investigation of electron transfer in collisions of C4+ with H and with Li atoms in the energy range 0.1-20 keV amu-'. Calculated total transfer cross sections constitute the first published origin-independent results for these systems and are found to be in good agreement with experiment. Partial transfer cross sections have been compared with recent, preliminary experimental data for the case of C4++Li collisions, and qualitative agreement is found for the n distributions. Significant discrepancies, however, are found between calculated and measured I-subshell distributions. Electron capture in ion-atom collisions is a process of outstanding fundamental and practical interest. Much progress has recently been achieved in the efficient theoretical description of one-electron and quasi-one-electron collision systems at intermediate collision energies where the very number of competing physical channels precludes an understanding by simple models. The standard procedure consists of decomposing the time-dependent electronic wavefunction either into a set of travelling atomic orbitals (AO), with additional pseudostates representing molecular binding effects or contribution