Excitation of highly charged hydrogen-like ions by the impact of equivelocity electrons and protons: a comparative study

TL;DR

This study compares how equivelocity electrons and protons excite highly charged hydrogen-like ions, revealing electrons are more effective despite lower kinetic energy due to strong nuclear attraction effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates that electrons can induce more efficient excitation than protons at similar velocities, highlighting the impact of nuclear attraction on excitation processes.

Findings

Electrons are more effective in inducing excitation despite lower kinetic energy.

Protons require much higher energy to achieve similar excitation effects.

Nuclear attraction significantly influences excitation efficiency.

Abstract

We consider excitation of highly charged hydrogen-like ions by the impact of equivelocity electrons and protons. The kinetic energy of the protons is more than three orders of magnitude larger than that of the equivelocity electrons. It is shown, however, that despite this fact, the electrons can be much more effective in inducing excitation at collision velocities (slightly) above the threshold for electron impact excitation. The basic reason for this is the strong distortion of the motion of the electron by the attractive field of the nucleus of the highly charged ion.