Coupled-channels-optical method

The weak-coupling approximation (7.132,7.140) can be verified within the context of the coupled-channels-optical method. Equns. (7.123) may be solved with a particular channel, defined by the target state i), included in either P space or Q space. If it is in P space the channel i is fully coupled. The approximation is verified if the two solutions agree. In practice the lowest dipole-excited channels should be included in P space with the experimentally-observed channels, but the approximation is closely verified for higher channels in Q space. However, computation of (7.123) is not difficult and it is common to include all discrete channels in P space that are necessary for convergence. 

The equivalent-local coupled-channels-optical method... 

Fig. 8.8 shows that the coupled-channels-optical method with the equivalent-local polarisation potential (McCarthy and Shang, 1992) gives a good semiquantitative description of the experimental data of Williams (1976 ) for elastic differential cross sections below the n—2 threshold. At energies just below the n=3 threshold the resonances affect the n=2 excitations. Fig. 8.9 shows the energy dependence of the integrated cross sections for the 2s and 2p channels. Since a resonance is a property of the compound system, not the channel, the resonances observed in... 

Since helium occurs naturally as an atomic gas it has been used for many years as a target for electron-collision experiments. However detailed calculations involving approximations for the complete set of target states have been performed only by the equivalent-local coupled-channels-optical method, described in section 7.6.2. 

The equivalent-local form of the coupled-channels-optical method does not give a satisfactory description of the excitation of triplet states (Brun-ger et al, 1990). Here only the exchange part of the polarisation potential contributes. The equivalent-local approximation to this is not sufficiently accurate. It is necessary to check the overall validity of the treatment of the complete target space by comparing calculated total cross sections with experiment. This is done in table 8.8. The experiments of Nickel et al. (1985) were done by a beam-transmission technique (section 2.1.3). The calculation overestimates total cross sections by about 20%, due to an overestimate of the total ionisation cross section. However, an error of this magnitude in the (second-order) polarisation potential does not invalidate the coupled-channels-optical calculation for low-lying discrete channels. 

The example of magnesium at Eq = 40 eV illustrates the application of the coupled-channels-optical method to a two-electron atom with a core. It... 

Also shown in fig. 8.13 are comparisons of the differential cross sections of the coupled-channels-optical method with the experimental values of... 

The experimental data for hydrogen are compared with calculations in fig. 10.16. Both the convergent-close-coupling and coupled-channels-optical methods come close to complete agreement with experiment. The total ionisation cross section is a more severe test of theory, since it is an absolute quantity, whereas the asymmetry is a ratio. However, the correct prediction of the asymmetry reinforces the conclusion, reached by comparison with all other available experimental observables, that these methods are valid. 

I. Bray, D.A. Konovalov, I.E. McCarthy, Convergence of an L2 approach in the coupled-channel optical-potential method for e-H scattering, Phys. Rev. A 43 (1991) 1301. 

The Lippmann—Schwinger equations (6.73) are written formally in terms of a discrete notation i) for the complete set of target states, which includes the ionisation continuum. For a numerical solution it is necessary to have a finite set of coupled integral equations. We formulate the coupled-channels-optical equations that describe reactions in a channel subspace, called P space. This is projected from the chaimel space by an operator P that includes only a finite set of target states. The entrance channel 0ko) is included in P space. The method was first discussed by Feshbach (1962). Its application to the momentum-space formulation of electron—atom scattering was introduced by McCarthy and Stelbovics... 

Fig. 8.3. Differential cross section for electron scattering to the Is, 2s and 2p states of hydrogen at 54.4 eV. Experimental data for Is are interpolated (Williams, 1975), for 2s and 2p they are taken from Williams (1981). Calculations are solid curve, convergent close coupling (Bray and Stelbovics, 1992h) long-dashed curve, coupled channels optical (Bray et al, 1991c) short-dashed curve, distorted-wave second Born (Madison et al, 1991) chain curve, intermediate-energy R matrix (Scholz et al, 1991) dotted curve, pseudostate method (van Wyngaarden and Walters, 1986).

The comparison of theory and experiment in table 8.3 is somewhat unsatisfactory. The coupled-channels-optical and pseudostate calculations agree with each other and with the convergent-close-coupling calculation within a few percent, yet there are noticeable discrepancies with the experimental estimates. The convergent-close-coupling method calculates total ionisation cross sections in complete agreement with the measurements... 

Fig. 8.9. Integrated cross section for electron scattering to the 2s (above) and 2p (below) states of hydrogen below the n=3 threshold. The positions and quantum numbers of resonances are shown on the upper scale. Experiment, Williams (1988) solid curve, coupled channels optical (equivalent local) (McCarthy and Shang, 1992) long-dashed curve, pseudostate method (Callaway, 1982) short-dashed curve, 9-state coupled channels.

Table 8.8. Total cross sections for electron-helium scattering. CCO, coupled-channels-optical (equivalent local) method (McCarthy et al.,1991) experiment. Nickel et al. (1985). Units are KT cmi ...

During the past few years we have observed an intensive development of many-channel approaches to the collision problem. In particular, the coupled-channels method is based on an expansion of the total wave fmiction in internal states of reactants and products and a numerical solution of the coupled-channels equations.This method was applied in the usual way to the atom-diatom reaction A + BC by MOR-TENSBN and GUCWA /86/, MILLER /102/, WOLKEN and KARPLUS /103/, and EL-KOWITZ and WYATT /101b/. Operator techniques based on the Lippmann-Schwinger equation (46.II) or on the transition operator (38 II) has also been used, for instance, by BAER and KIJORI /104/ The effective Hamiltonian approach( opacity and optical-potential models) and the statistical approach (phase space models, transition state models, information theory) provide other relatively simple ways for a solution of the collision problem in the framework of the many-channel method /89/<. 

---