Full two-electron calculations of antiproton collisions with molecular hydrogen

TL;DR

This paper presents comprehensive two-electron calculations of antiproton collisions with molecular hydrogen, providing benchmark data across a wide energy range and highlighting the importance of molecular geometry and electron correlation.

Contribution

It introduces a nonperturbative time-dependent close-coupling method for accurate two-electron dynamics in antiproton-molecular hydrogen collisions, filling a gap in theoretical modeling.

Findings

Good agreement with high-energy experimental data

Discrepancies near the maximum ionization cross section

Emphasizes the significance of molecular geometry and full electron correlation

Abstract

Total cross sections for single ionization and excitation of molecular hydrogen by antiproton impact are presented over a wide range of impact energy from 1 keV to 6.5 MeV. A nonpertubative time-dependent close-coupling method is applied to fully treat the correlated dynamics of the electrons. Good agreement is obtained between the present calculations and experimental measurements of single-ionization cross sections at high energies, whereas some discrepancies with the experiment are found around the maximum. The importance of the molecular geometry and a full two-electron description is demonstrated. The present findings provide benchmark results which might be useful for the development of molecular models.