Effect of the coupling channel on the excitation of hydrogenic atoms by the impact of protons and antiprotons

Abstract

Excitation of hydrogenic atoms H, He⁺ and Li⁺⁺ initially in the 2p excited state to the n = 3 states by impact of protons and antiprotons is studied using the single-center atomic orbital close-coupling formalism in its impact parameter approach. The calculations cover the incident energy range from 1 to 1000 keV, in which the straight-line trajectory description of nuclear motion is applicable and the inertial confinement plasma research is of main interest. The influences of couplings between the n = 2 states, as well as the back coupling to the 2p initial state, on the excitation processes are investigated. Including the back couplings is found to be more important in the case of proton scattering than in the case of antiproton, and neglecting couplings between the n = 2 states is found to increase the effect of the sign of the projectile’s charge. The calculated cross sections for the H atom are compared with those obtained by previous theoretical calculations.