Electron loss from hydrogen-like highly charged ions in collisions with electrons, protons and light atoms

TL;DR

This study compares electron loss mechanisms from highly charged ions caused by collisions with electrons, protons, and light atoms, revealing differences in effectiveness and electron momentum distributions across various collision velocities.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of how different projectiles influence electron loss and the resulting electron spectra, highlighting the roles of nuclear and electronic interactions.

Findings

Protons are more effective than electrons in inducing electron loss at certain velocities.

The effectiveness of electrons relative to protons increases with the ion's atomic number.

Electron spectra differ significantly between collisions with electrons and protons, even when total cross sections are similar.

Abstract

We study electron loss from a hydrogen-like highly charged ion by the impact of equivelocity electrons and protons and also in collisions with hydrogen and helium. The collision velocity $v$ varies between $v_{min}$ and $v_{max}$, where $v_{min}$ and $v_{max}$ correspond to the energy threshold $\varepsilon_{th}$ for electron loss in collisions with a free electron and to $\approx 5 \, \varepsilon_{th}$, respectively. Our results show that in this range of $v$: i) compared to equivelocity electrons protons are more effective in inducing electron loss (due to a substantially larger volume of the effectively available final-state electron momentum space), ii) the relative (compared to protons) effectiveness of electron projectiles grows with increase in the atomic number of a highly charged ion, iii) a substantial part of the volume of the final-state-electron momentum space, kinematically available in collisions with electrons, is weaker populated in collisions with protons than with electrons, iv) even when the total loss cross sections in collisions with electrons and protons become already equal the spectra of the outgoing electrons still remain quite different in almost the entire volume of the final-state-electron momentum space. The points i) and iii), in particular, mean that in collisions with hydrogen target the contributions to the loss process from the interactions with the nucleus and the electron(s) of the atom would be to a large extent separated in the final-state-electron momentum space.