Charge transfer ofO3+ions in collisions with atomic hydrogen

Cross sections are calculated for the charge transfer of ${\mathrm{O}}^{3+}$ ions in collisions with hydrogen atoms. The cross sections are in satisfactory agreement with ion-trap measurements at energies near 2.5 eV and with ion-beam measurements between 40 eV and 5 keV. The calculated cross sections uniformly exceed the ion-beam values by about 25%. The discrepancy, if real, may be attributed to the presence of less reactive metastable ions in the beam. The theory demonstrates that the charge-transfer process results in the emission of visible and ultraviolet photons of specific wavelengths whose detection would serve as a diagnostic probe of the detailed mechanism by which charge transfer proceeds.