Five-body calculations of D2 fragmentation by Xe19+ impact

A five-body classical trajectory Monte Carlo model has been developed to study fragmentation of diatomic molecules after double electron removal by highly charged ion impact. A systematic study of the final-state deuteron energy and momentum spectra has been conducted for Xe19+ + D-2 collisions at impact energies ranging from 1 eV/u to 100 keV/u. At the highest projectile energies, the fragment energies and momenta are determined by the Coulomb explosion of the doubly-ionized molecule via the known Franck-Condon transition for the isolated molecule. The deuterons are emitted back-to-hack with nearly equal energies. At the lowest projectile energies, the final state behavior is due mainly to the collisional momentum transfer from the slow-moving projectile. The deuterons are strongly scattered in the direction opposite to the transverse momentum of the projectile with energies far greater than those produced in the Franck-Condon transition. At energies around 150 eV/u, both slow and fast deuterons are predicted. This is due to the vector addition of the collisional momentum transfer to the center of mass of the molecule with that due to the two-body Coulomb breakup of the dissociating ions. [S1050-2947(99)01009-4].