Charge transfer and electronic excitation in collisions of protons with water molecules below 10 keV

Charge transfer and electronic excitation processes for H++H2O collisions are investigated theoretically below 10 keV. Molecular-orbital close-coupling approach is employed for scattering dynamics, while an ab initio multireference single- and double-configuration interaction method is used for the determination of molecular states. The present results for charge transfer show rather weak energy dependence in the energy range from 10 keV down to a few tens of eV with very slowly varying cross-section value of 4-13x10(-16) cm(2), and are found to be in excellent agreement with experimental measurements by Lindsay [Phys. Rev. A 55, 3945 (1997)] where the energy in the experiment and theory overlaps. The electronic-excitation cross sections are found to be much smaller than those for the charge transfer, but increase rapidly and become comparable to charge transfer at a few keV. Most of the water molecular ions and excited species produced in the collision are unstable and soon undergo dissociation; some insight into the fragmentation process and the fragmented species is given.