Autoionization and dissociation of hydrogen molecules produced in H ₂⁺+H₂ charge transfer collisions

The decay of H₂ molecules produced by charge transfer reactions in H₂⁺+H₂ collisions is investigated. Dissociation processes are observed to be important in explaining the experimentally observed total cross section for charge transfer. Experiments on the highly excited states of hydrogen molecules produced in the above charge transfer collisions are analysed and compared with theoretical arguments on the decay of Rydberg states of molecules. Vibrational autoionization is shown to be an important factor in the interpretation of these experiments.