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Volume 13: Pages 394-399, 2000
Classical and Quantum Threshold Laws in 3‐Body Coulomb Breakup
P. Chocian 1, W. Ihra 2, P. F. O'Mahony 3
1Max‐Planck‐Institut fur Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, D‐01187 Dresden, Germany
2Universität Freiburg, Theoretical Quantum Dynamics, Hermann‐Herder‐Str. 3, D‐79104 Freiburg, Germany
3Department of Mathematics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, U.K.
We give analytic expressions for both the classical and quantum threshold laws for the breakup of three charged particles interacting via long‐range Coulomb forces for the case of a charge ratio of 1/4 between the particles involved. In this particular case the classical and quantum threshold laws differ. We show that the classical result can also be obtained by taking the semiclassical limit of the quantum expression. The threshold law shows exponential suppression of the ionization probability at threshold in contrast to the generic power‐law dependence found in Wannier theory. This system provides an interesting prototype to study the quantum to classical transition in 3‐body Coulomb breakup.
Keywords: electron‐impact ionization, Wannier threshold law, 3‐body Coulomb breakup, classical threshold laws, semiclassical limits
Received: June 22, 2000; Published online: December 15, 2008
