Excitation and charge transfer in low-energy hydrogen atom collisions with neutral iron

TL;DR

This paper provides theoretical data on excitation and charge transfer processes in low-energy hydrogen-iron collisions, crucial for modeling stellar spectra, using an advanced quantum mechanical approach across a wide temperature range.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive quantum mechanical calculation of inelastic Fe+H collision processes, including 166 covalent and 25 ionic states, with rate coefficients for astrophysical modeling.

Findings

Charge transfer rates are highest around 6.3 and 6.6 eV states.

Active 4d and 5p electrons are involved in significant transfer processes.

Excitation among key states is also notably important.

Abstract

Data for inelastic processes due to hydrogen atom collisions with iron are needed for accurate modelling of the iron spectrum in late-type stars. Excitation and charge transfer in low-energy Fe+H collisions is studied theoretically using a previously presented method based on an asymptotic two-electron linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) model of ionic-covalent interactions in the neutral atom-hydrogen-atom system, together with the multi-channel Landau-Zener model. An extensive calculation including 166 covalent states and 25 ionic states is presented and rate coefficients are calculated for temperatures in the range 1000 - 20000 K. The largest rates are found for charge transfer processes to and from two clusters of states around 6.3 and 6.6 eV excitation, corresponding in both cases to active 4d and 5p electrons undergoing transfer. Excitation and de-excitation processes among these two sets of states are also significant.