Fragmentation of molecules by collisions of swift heavy ions: A theoretical and experimental study

R. Cabrera-Trujillo^1,2, N. Stolterfoht^1,3, J. R. Sabin¹, Y. Ohrn¹, E. Deumens¹, R. Hellhammer³, Z. Pesic³,
A. M. Sayler², M. Leonard², K. Carnes², B. D. Esry², I. Ben-Itzhak²

1) Physics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611-8435, USA
2) J. R. Macdonald Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
3) Hahn-Meitner Institut, Glienickerstrasse 100, Berlin D-14109, Germany

The study of the dissociation of biomolecules by heavy ions is crucial to the understanding of processes such as cell damage and dosimetry. From the theoretical point of view, the problem is complex due to the coupling of the electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom, thus few theoretical approaches exist that can compare directly with experiment. In this talk, a review of our study of the dissociation of deuterated water molecules by swift F7+ ions [1] induced by double ionization is presented. In particular, the mechanism for the asymmetry in the cleavage of OD and OH is analyzed. In the second part of the talk, a study of the fragmentation of water produced by slow alpha particles [2] induced by the dominant double electron capture by the projectile is described. In this case, a study of the total and differential cross section for electron capture, as well as a study of the angular distribution of the fragments is discussed.

References:

[1] A. M. Sayler, M. Leonard, K. D. Carnes, R. Cabrera-Trujillo, B. D. Esry, and I. Ben-Itzhak,
J. Phys. B 39, 1701 (2006).
[2] N. Stolterfoht, R.Cabrera-Trujillo, R. Hellhammer, Z. Pesic, E. Deumens, Y. Ohrn, and J. R. Sabin,
Adv. Quantum Chemistry (in press) (2006).

JRML-KSU work was supported by the Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, Office of Basic
Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy. QTP-UF work was supported by NSF grant 0513386.

Submitted to CAARI, August 2006 in Fort Worth, TX.

 

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