A New Time-Dependent Scattering Theory: Application to the Capture of Antiprotons by Hydrogen Atoms and Helium Atoms

We present a theoretical method for Coulomb three-body rearrangement collisions solving a Chew-Goldberger-type integral equation directly. The scattering boundary condition is automatically satisfied by adiabatically switching on the interaction between the projectile and target. Hence the outgoing wave function is obtained without the tedious procedure of adjusting the total wave function in the asymptotic region. All the dynamical information can be derived from the scattering wave function obtained on pseudo-spectral grids numerically. Using this method, we obtained the state-specified capture cross sections when antiprotons collide with hydrogen atoms or helium atoms. Differing from the capture processes of antiprotons by hydrogen atoms, the anomalous bumpy structures are revealed in the total angular momentum dependent capture cross sections by helium atoms. Further analysis shows that the bumps arise from the partial channel closing due to the removal of the energy degeneracy in the antiprotonic helium atom. The ejected electron energy distributions are also provided for the comparison with future experiments