Energy Distribution of Energetic Atoms in a Gaseous Medium. I. Elastic Scattering of Particles by Spherical Potentials of the Form V(r) = (A1/r S1) + (A2/r S2)

Abstract

The energy distribution function n(E) for energetic particles in a gaseous medium is treated (classically) assuming elastic scattering governed by a two‐term spherical potential of the form V(r) = (A₁/r^S₁) + (A₂/r^S₂). It is found that in the energy interval from 1 MeV to 1 keV, n(E) differs from that computed for a single‐term potential, but it makes almost no difference whether the second (long‐range) component is of an attractive or repulsive nature. In the low energy range (n(E) in comparison with those obtained with a repulsive long‐range term. The calculations also show that n(E) is almost independent of the initial energy of the incoming particles. The results can be applied to the calculation of the yields of chemical reactions caused by energetic atoms such as fission fragments. One of the implications which emerges is that the yields of the reactions would not be influenced by the initial spectrum of the energetic atoms, since this has practically no effect on n(E) provided that the atoms behave like material points.