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arXiv · 2211.08328

Ion-atom-atom three-body recombination: from the cold to the thermal regime

Marjan Mirahmadi·Jesús Pérez-Ríos
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Abstract

We present a study on ion-atom-atom reaction A+A+B$^+$ in a wide range of systems and collision energies ranging from 100$~\mu$K to 10$^5~$K, analyzing the two possible products: molecules and molecular ions. The dynamics is performed via a direct three-body formalism based on a classical trajectory method in hyperspherical coordinates developed in [J. Chem. Phys. $\textbf{140}$, 044307 (2014)]. Our chief finding is that the dissociation energy of the molecular ion product acts as a threshold energy separating the low and high energy regimes. In the low energy regime, the long-range tail of the three-body potential dictates the fate of the reaction and the main reaction product. On the contrary, in the high energy regime, the short-range of atom-atom and atom-ion interaction potential dominates the dynamics, enhancing molecular formation for the low energy regime.

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Marjan Mirahmadi, Jesús Pérez-Ríos. 2022-11-15. Ion-atom-atom three-body recombination: from the cold to the thermal regime. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0134132

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