Atoms, Vol. 11, Pages 144: Collisional Classical Dynamics at the Quantum Scale

Atoms, Vol. 11, Pages 144: Collisional Classical Dynamics at the Quantum Scale

Atoms doi: 10.3390/atoms11110144

Authors: Sebastian Otranto

During the past five decades, classical dynamics have been systematically used to gain insight on collision processes between charged particles and photons with atomic and molecular targets. These methods have proved to be efficient for systems in which numerical intensive quantum mechanical methods are not yet tractable. During the years, reaction cross sections for charge exchange and ionization have been scrutinized at the total and differential levels, leading to a clear understanding of the benefits and limitations inherent in a classical description. In this work, we present a review of the classical trajectory Monte Carlo method, its current status and the perspectives that can be envisaged for the near future.