Low-Energy Atomic Collisions. I. The Schrödinger Equation for H+–H

Abstract

The Schrödinger equation for the system H⁺–H is considered. After the usual separation of the center‐of‐mass coordinates, group theoretic methods are used to eliminate three degrees of freedom associated with the rotational motion of the system. This is done in a manner which treats the protons symmetrically, thereby enabling one to easily establish the symmetry character of the wavefunctions. The result is in a form which is convenient in the study of scattering.