Photodetachment cross-section of the negatively charged hydrogen ion

TL;DR

This paper accurately calculates the photodetachment cross-section of the negatively charged hydrogen ion using variational wave functions, analyzing its behavior across different electron momenta and identifying the maximum value and its position.

Contribution

The study introduces a highly precise variational approach combined with Rayleigh's formula to determine the photodetachment cross-section of H$^{-}$, including its maximum and corresponding electron momentum.

Findings

Maximum cross-section approximately 3.8627 x 10^{-17} cm^2

Maximum occurs at electron momentum around 0.1132 a.u.

Method achieves high accuracy in cross-section calculations.

Abstract

Photodetachment cross-section $\sigma_{ph}(p_e)$ of the negatively charged hydrogen ion H$^{-}$ is determined with the use of highly accurate variational wave functions constructed for this ion. Photodetachment cross-sections of the H$^{-}$ ion are also studied for very small and very large values of the photo-electron momentum $p_e$. Maximum of this cross-section and its location have been evaluated to high accuracy. In particular, we have found that $[\sigma_{ph}(p_e)]_{\max} \approx$ 3.8627035742 $\cdot 10^{-17}$ $cm^2$ at $p_e \approx$ 0.113206(1) $a.u.$ Our method is based upon the Rayleigh's formula for spherical Bessel functions.