Improved atomic model for charge transfer in multielectron ion-atom collisions at intermediate energies

Electron capture to the K shell of projectiles from the K and other subshells of multielectron target atoms is studied in the intermediate energy region using the single-active-electron approximation and the two-state, two-center atomic eigenfunction expansion method. It is concluded that the theoretical capture cross section is not sensitive to the atomic models used at high collision energies where the projectile velocity v is near or greater than the orbital velocity vₑ of the active electron. For v<vₑ, however, a proper atomic potential such as the Herman-Skillman potential is needed to represent the target atom. The insufficiency of various simple Coulomb model potentials is illustrated. Capture cross sections for a few collision systems are obtained and compared with experimental data when available to illustrate the reliability of the present model.