Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.

Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.

Temporal associations in the massive three-body Coulomb interacting systems of deuterium(+) +deuterium(+) +deuterium(-) and hydrogen(+) +hydrogen(+) +hydrogen(-)

Brandon James Jordon-Thaden, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

In the laboratory we have access to the massive Coulomb three-body systems D++D++D- and H++H ++H-. The systems are produced through collisions of 4.0 keV [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted] on He, producing three charged fragments in the continuum. The long-range Coulomb inter action between the fragments can lead to highly correlated motion. The laboratory frame energies and scattering angles of the three fragments are measured in triple coincidence. Transforming to the center of mass (c.m.) frame, the c.m. energies and mutual correlation angles can be determined for each measured three-body event. When the observed triple events are plotted on a WYJ Dalitz plot as a function of total c.m. energy, patterns and trends develop in the experimental data. To understand the physical origins of these patterns, a series of classical numerical simulations of three charged bodies was executed modeling the [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted] post-dissociation dynamics. The experimental data can then interpreted within the classical simulation framework combined with the quantum mechanical properties of the parent [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted]. New insights has been gained on the dynamics of polar N-body systems. A new, heretofore unconsidered dissociation channel has been discovered where tenuous temporary associations between oppositely charged fragments can form. These Keplerian-like two-body systems lead to a rich domain of post-dissociation dynamics. Predicted by the three-body simulations, evidence of this novel dissociation process has been identified in the experimental data.

Subject Area

Atoms & subatomic particles

Recommended Citation

Jordon-Thaden, Brandon James, "Temporal associations in the massive three-body Coulomb interacting systems of deuterium(+) +deuterium(+) +deuterium(-) and hydrogen(+) +hydrogen(+) +hydrogen(-)" (2005). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3201772.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3201772

Share

COinS