Theoretical investigation of dissociative attachment in HCl and DCl

Abstract

The cross section sigma for dissociative attachment is calculated as a function of electron energy E, in the framework of a theory given by Bardsley (1968). The cross section sigma (E) exhibits vertical breaks at the position of the vibrational levels of the target molecule; the shape of the curve sigma (E) and the isotope effect are in reasonable agreement with experiment. An attempt is made to fit the potential curve of the compound state HCl^-, and to obtain a set of possible potential curves, all of them lying above the potential curve of HCl in the Franck-Condon region.