Double closure calculation of the electron-loss cross section forH−in high-energy collisions with H and He

An extension of the Bethe theory for the total inelastic cross section in the Born approximation is presented and used to evaluate the total electron-loss cross section for ${\mathrm{H}}^{-}$ collisions on H and He targets at high energies. Sum rules are used to derive expressions for both the leading and the next leading order contributions to the asymptotic cross section. A comparison with the available experimental data for He targets shows good agreement with the theoretical calculation. In the case of hydrogen the calculated cross section for atomic H targets shows a clear preference for the larger values of the cross section obtained by several groups and disagrees with the conflicting lower experimental data from two other measurements. When corrections for ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ are included, this conclusion remains true for the conflicting experimental data near 10 MeV, but the calculated cross section in this case favors the lower experimental data near 1 MeV. Results are also presented for the total elastic cross section and the total nondetachment inelastic cross section. The latter is smaller than the total electron-loss cross section at intermediate energies, but exceeds it at sufficiently high energies. However, the convergence of the series generated in the Bethe theory approach for the nonloss cross section appears to be much slower than that of the electron-loss cross section.