Vibrationally resolved collisions in cold hydrogen plasma

Slow collisions (0.5-100 eV) of hydrogen atoms and ions with vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules and molecular ions are studied using fully quantal (below 10 eV) and semi-classical approaches. Considered transitions include charge transfer, excitation, dissociation, three-body diatomic association, as well as energy and angular spectra of dissociation fragments. Mutual relations of various elastic and inelastic processes, the relevant physical mechanisms governing vibrational dynamics in inelastic channels and comparison of the fully quantal and semi-classical results are also reported. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.