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Critical behavior of electron impact ionization of atoms
Author(s) -
Ladadwa Imad,
Kais Sabre
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/1097-461x(2000)80:4/5<575::aid-qua6>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - ionization , atomic physics , electron , effective nuclear charge , atom (system on chip) , charge (physics) , physics , electron ionization , cross section (physics) , molar ionization energies of the elements , chemistry , ion , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , embedded system
Cross sections of the electron impact ionization for different atoms are calculated numerically in the Born approximation as a function of both the incident electron energy and the nuclear charge Z of the ionized atom. We show that the cross section for ionization tends to a large magnitude as the nuclear charge of the target atom tends to its critical value, where the critical nuclear charge is the minimum charge necessary to bind N electrons. Results show that there is a fundamental difference in the change of the cross section near the critical point depending on whether the transition from bound to a continuum state is first order or continuous. The cross section for ionization and the threshold power law for two and three electrons are discussed. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 80: 575–581, 2000