Insights from the zero-angular-momentum wave in single and double ionization of He by fast electrons

Abstract

In a recent contribution our group proposed a perturbative approach to deal with the open problem of double ionization of helium by electron impact. The goal of this work is to delve into the physics of the scattering function, and provide evidence of the nature of the single-ionization channels present in the three-body wave function. We show that the fast oscillating parts of the wave function are indeed the single-ionization channels, which appear coupled with the double continuum ones. We found a particular type of basis set within the Generalized Sturmian method that is better suited to isolate single from double-ionization channels. © 2014 American Physical Society.