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At least 55 records · Page 3

Effective velocity power laws for electron-neutral collision frequencies

Calculations of electron transport coefficients in the ionosphere are simplified if the electron-neutral collision frequency can be expressed as a power law in velocity. A new method for determining the effective power law representation for electron-neutral collision frequencies of arbitrary velocity dependence is presented. This method is applied to ionospheric gases in a model calculation. Comparison with similar results of Schunk and Walker and with exact calculations of transport coefficient correction factors demonstrates this technique to be more accurate than the other. Effective power law indexes are computed for both Banks' and Itikawa's collision frequencies. Relative differences between these indexes are found to be considerably larger than the differences between the collision frequencies themselves; however, the effects on transport calculations are shown to be smaller.

Comfort, R. H.↗

Finite-Element Z-Matrix Calculation of Electron-N2 Collisions

The finite element Z-matrix method has been applied in a multichannel study of e-N2 Collisions for electron energies from threshold to 30 eV. General agreement is obtained comparing with existing experimental and theoretical data. Some discrepancies are also found.

Huo, Winifred M.↗

The FEM-R-Matrix Approach: Use of Mixed Finite Element and Gaussian Basis Sets for Electron Molecule Collisions

For the calculation of electron molecule collision cross sections R-matrix methods automatically take advantage of the division of configuration space into an inner region (I) bounded by radius tau b, where the scattered electron is within the molecular charge cloud and the system is described by an correlated Configuration Interaction (CI) treatment in close analogy to bound state calculations, and an outer region (II) where the scattered electron moves in the long-range multipole potential of the target and efficient analytic methods can be used for solving the asymptotic Schroedinger equation plus boundary conditions.

Thuemmel, Helmar T.↗

Collisions of Electrons with Atomic Oxygen: Current Status

In 1990, two significant reviews of electron-atomic-oxygen collision processes were published. Since that time, a large volume of both experimental and theoretical research into these processes has occurred. These data are reviewed and recommendations regarding existing data sets and future research in this area are made. Attention is given to the challenges associated with handling atomic oxygen in terms of both experiment and theory.

Johnson, P. V.↗

Event generator for jet tomography in electron-ion collisions

We develop the first event generator, the electron-heavy-ion-jet-interaction-generator (eHIJING), for the jet tomography study of electron-ion collisions. In this generator, energetic jet partons produced from the initial hard scattering undergo multiple collisions with the nuclear target. The collision rate is proportional to the transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) gluon density in the nucleus, which is given by a simple model inspired by the physics of gluon saturation. Medium-modified QCD splitting functions within the higher-twist (HT) and generalized higher-twist (GHT) frameworks are utilized to simulate parton showering in the nuclear medium that takes into account the non-Abelian Landau-Pomeranchuck-Midgal interference effect. Employing eHIJING, we revisit hadron production in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) as measured by EMC, HERMES, and recent CLAS experiments. eHIJING with both GT and GHT frameworks gives reasonably good descriptions of these experimental data. Predictions for experiments at the future electron-ion colliders are also provided. It is demonstrated that future measurements of the transverse momentum broadening of single hadron spectra can be used to map out the two-dimensional kinematic (Q 2 , x B ) dependence of the jet transport coefficient $\hat{q}$ in cold nuclear matter.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Electron-ion collisions in high temperature plasmas

Several newly observed electron-ion collision phenomena that occur in high-temperature plasmas containing electrons and ions of energies 10-10,000 eV, or temperature of 10 to the 5th to 10 to the 8th K, are reviewed. These are the phenomena of dielectronic recombination, excitation-autoionization, and electron energy-loss scattering as measured in crossed (90 deg) and merged electron-ion beam experiments.

Chutjian, A.↗

Convergent Close-Coupling Approach to Electron-Atom Collisions

It was with great pleasure and honour to accept the invitation to make a presentation at the symposium celebrating the life-long work of Aaron Temkin and Richard Drachman. The work of Aaron Temkin was particularly influential on our own during the development of the CCC method for electron-atom collisions. There are a number of key problems that need to be dealt with when developing a general computational approach to such collisions. Traditionally, the electron energy range was subdivided into the low, intermediate, and high energies. At the low energies only a finite number of channels are open and variational or close-coupling techniques could be used to obtain accurate results. At high energies an infinite number of discrete channels and the target continuum are open, but perturbative techniques are able to yield accurate results. However, at the intermediate energies perturbative techniques fail and computational approaches need to be found for treating the infinite number of open channels. In addition, there are also problems associated with the identical nature of electrons and the difficulty of implementing the boundary conditions for ionization processes. The beauty of the Temkin-Poet model of electron-hydrogen scattering is that it simplifies the full computational problem by neglecting any non-zero orbital angular momenta in the partial-wave expansion, without loosing the complexity associated with the above-mentioned problems. The unique nature of the problem allowed for accurate solution leading to benchmark results which could then be used to test the much more general approaches to electron-atom collision problems. The immense value of the Temkin-Poet model is readily summarised by the fact that the initial papers of Temkin and Poet have been collectively cited around 250 times to date and are still being cited in present times. Many of the citations came from our own work during the course of the development of the CCC method, which we now describe.

Bray, Igor↗

The ionization state in a gas with a non-Maxwellian electron distribution

The inferred degree of ionization of a gas is often used in astrophysics as a diagnostic of the gas temperature. In the solar transition region and corona, in the outer atmospheres of cool stars, and in some portions of the interstellar medium), photoionization can be neglected, and the ionization state is fixed by the balance between ion-electron collisional ionization and dielectronic and/or radiative recombination. Under these conditions, higher degrees of ionization result from higher energy ion-electron collisions which are common in a high temperature gas. Actually, ionization occurs through collisions with electrons that have kinetic energies greater than the ionization potential of the given ion, and so the ionization rate depends on to the number of such high-energy electrons in the tail of the electron velocity distribution. High-velocity electrons move across large distances between effective coulomb collisions, and, in a strong temperature or density gradient, the tail can be overpopulated relative to Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of equivalent energy density. Thus, the ionization rate can also be greatly increased. These effects for a parameterized form of the electron distribution function with an enhanced high-velocity tail, namely the kappa distribution are illustrated.

Owocki, S. P.↗

Contribution of coherent electron production to measurements of heavy-flavor decayed electrons in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract Heavy quarks, produced at early stages of heavy-ion collisions, are an excellent probe of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) also created in these collisions. Electrons from open heavy-flavor hadron decays (HFE) are good proxies for heavy quarks, and have been measured extensively in the last two decades to study QGP properties. These measurements are traditionally carried out by subtracting all known background sources from the inclusive electron sample. More recently, a significant enhancement of $$e^+e^-$$ e + e - pair production at very low transverse momenta was observed in peripheral heavy-ion collisions. The production characteristics is consistent with coherent photon–photon interactions, which should also constitute a background source to the HFE measurements. In this article, we provide theoretical predictions for the contribution of coherent electron production to HFEs as a function of transverse momentum, centrality and collision energy in Au+Au and Pb+Pb collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Characterization of uncertainties in electron-argon collision cross sections

Abstract The predictive capability of a plasma discharge model depends on accurate representations of electron-impact collision cross sections, which determine the corresponding reaction rates and electron transport properties. The values of cross sections can be known only approximately either through experiments or simulations and are thus subject to uncertainties. Quantifying the uncertainties in plasma simulations allows us to assess the reliability of simulations and to provide a basis for interpreting discrepancies between simulations and experiments. For such uncertainty quantification of plasma simulations, it is essential to quantify the uncertainties of the underlying cross sections. Although much effort has been committed to calibrate the cross section values, their uncertainties are not well investigated. We characterize uncertainties in electron-argon atom collision cross sections using a Bayesian framework. Six collision processes—elastic momentum transfer, ionization, and four excitations—are characterized with semi-empirical models, which effectively capture the features important to the macroscopic properties of the plasma. A probability model for the uncertain parameters of these semi-empirical models is developed. Specifically, a Gaussian-process likelihood model is proposed to capture discrepancies among data sets, as well as the model-form inadequacies of the semi-empirical models. Two other likelihood models are compared with the proposed Gaussian-process model, to illustrate the importance of the choice of the likelihood model. The cross section models are calibrated using the electron-beam experiments and ab-inito quantum simulations. The resulting calibrated uncertainties capture well the scattering among the data sets. The calibrated cross section models are further validated against swarm-parameter experiments and zero-dimensional Boltzmann equation simulations of widely used cross section datasets.

Chung, Seung Whan (ORCID:0000000302501549)↗

Centrality definition in e + A collisions at the electron–ion collider

Here, in this work, we investigate the feasibility of defining centrality in electron–ion collisions at the electron–ion collider (EIC) by examining the correlation between the impact parameter and several observables, including total energy, total transverse momentum, and total number of particles. Using the BeAGLE Monte Carlo generator, we simulate e + Au and e + Ru collisions at different energies and analyze the correlation between the impact parameter and these observables across different kinematic regions. Our findings indicate that the correlation is weak in the central rapidity region but becomes stronger in the forward and far-forward rapidity regions. However, the correlation is not sufficiently robust to allow for precise centrality determination. We conclude that defining centrality in electron–ion collisions is more challenging than in ion–ion collisions, necessitating further studies to develop a robust centrality definition for the EIC.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Computational Study of Electron-Molecule Collisions Related to Low-Temperature Plasmas

Computational study of electron-molecule collisions not only complements experimental measurements, but can also be used to investigate processes not readily accessible experimentally. A number of ab initio computational methods are available for these types of calculations. Here we describe a recently developed technique, the finite element Z-matrix method, Analogous to the R-matrix, method, it partitions the space into regions and employs real matrix elements. However, unlike the implementation of the R-matrix method commonly used in atomic and molecular physics, the Z-matrix method is fully variational. In the present implementation, a mixed basis of finite elements and Gaussians is used to represent the continuum electron, thus offering full flexibility without imposing fixed boundary conditions. Numerical examples include the electron-impact dissociation of N2 via the metastable A3Su+ state, a process which may be important in the lower thermosphere, and the dissociation of the CF radical, a process of interest to plasma etching. To understand the dissociation pathways, large scale quantum chemical calculations have been carried out for all target states which dissociate to the lowest five limits in the case of N2, and to the lowest two limits in the case of CF. For N2, the structural calculations clearly show the preference for predissociation if the initial state is the ground X1 Sg+ state, but direct dissociation appears to be preferable if the initial state is the A3Su+ state. Multi-configuration SCF target functions are used in the collisional calculation.

Huo, Winifred M.↗