Accurate collision data for hydrogen and helium plasmas
Abstract
The major advantage of the CCC method is in the ability to take into account all important reaction channels and the interaction between these channels. The accuracy of the obtained collision data can be assessed by increasing the number of reaction channels included in the calculations to demonstrate convergence. For collisions with molecules, the number of the reaction channels is very large and their account is extremely challenging due to the non-spherical nature of molecules. To date the study of convergence (accuracy) of the calculated cross sections for electron collisions with molecules is practically absent. In particular, no large-scale close coupling calculations have been performed to study electron collisions with HeH+ and He2+ molecules and collisions with hot H2 molecules. Many of the available excitation cross sections for electron-molecule collisions are grossly inaccurate. This very unsatisfactory situation substantially inhibits the ability to perform accurate modelling of various plasmas (fusion, astrophysical, etc.). We demonstrated this in our recent study e-H2+ [1] and e-H2 [2,3] collisions where we have performed detailed convergence studies and obtained accurate and converged excitation cross sections.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 28, 2017
- Source ID
- FA23861714055
Entities
People
- Igor Bray
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Curtin University
- United States Air Force