Electron detachment in low-energy H--Ne collisions: evidence of a purely dynamical phenomenon

The problem of electron detachment in low-energy D-(H-)-Ne collisions (below 30 eV) is studied in a molecular framework: the molecular ion (HNe)- and neutral (HNe) ground states are computed by standard ab initio techniques that provide the input data for the treatment of collisional detachment in the zero-range potential approximation. It is found that the molecular negative ion energy is always below the energy of the neutral molecule, so that the detachment can occur only via direct dynamical transitions from the bound state to the continuum. The present results are found to reproduce fairly well the experimental findings of Champion et al. (1976).