Rotational Transitions in the HD Molecule in Low-Energy HD–He Collisions

Abstract

The close coupling method has been applied to the rotational transitions in the low energy HD–He collisions. The interaction potential for the system has been derived from the theoretical potential for the H₂–He system by shifting the center of mass of the molecule. The rotational relaxation time has been calculated in the temperature range from 10 to 50 K, and compared with the recent measurement by Prangsma, et al. A good agreement has been obtained between theory and experiment.