Toward a description of electron-induced dissociative excitation in ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}^{+}$: Investigation of three resonances above the $\stackrel{\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}}{B}$ state

Toward a description of electron-induced dissociative excitation in $H_{2} O^{+}$ : Investigation of three resonances above the $\tilde{B}$ state

I. Rabadán and J. D. Gorfinkiel

Phys. Rev. A 103, 032804 – Published 4 March 2021

Abstract

Electron-induced dissociative excitation (DE) is a little studied process of significant applied relevance. Our aim is to provide a theoretical counterpart to earlier experiments [M. J. Jensen, R. C. Bilodeau, O. Heber, H. B. Pedersen, C. P. Safvan, X. Urbain, D. Zajfman, and L. H. Andersen, Phys. Rev. A 60, 2970 (1999)] on DE of $H_{2} O^{+}$ . For this purpose, we have performed low-energy fixed-nuclei scattering calculations, based on the R-matrix method, for over 1800 geometries of $H_{2} O^{+}$ . We have identified and characterized three resonances lying above the second $(\tilde{B})$ excited state of $H_{2} O^{+}$ ; their energy, lifetime, and associated quantum defect have been determined. We assess their possible contribution to the DE process.