Energy Dependence of Cross Sections near Threshold: Neutral Particles

Abstract

A procedure is developed for determining the excess-energy dependence near threshold of reaction cross sections involving the escape of an arbitrary number of neutral particles. It is somewhat analogous to Wigner's procedure in that only an asymptotic solution of Schrödinger's equation in used, but is more readily applied to many-particle escape because it does not require the explicit matching of this solution at a reaction zone boundary. Explicit samples include the escape of two identical particles with arbitrary angular momentum, and the escape of an arbitrary number of identical particles with zero angular momentum.