Scattering of Light Exotic Atoms in Excited States

The scattering of light exotic atoms in excited states (n = 2–5) from hydrogen has been calculated in a close-coupling model. For the first time, the absorption cross sections for hadronic atoms due to Stark collisions have been calculated by taking the shifts and widths of the nS states into account in a self-consistent quantum mechanical framework. A classical-trajectory Monte Carlo method has been used to calculate the scattering of exotic atoms from molecular hydrogen for n≥8. The Coulomb transitions with Δn>1 are found to be the dominant deexcitation mechanism at the initial stage of the cascade.