Energy transfer in collisions of oxygen atoms in the terrestrial atmosphere

The total and differential cross sections of elastic O(P-3) + O(P-3) collis ions have been obtained from quantal calculations, and the rate of energy r elaxation of fast oxygen atoms in atmospheric oxygen gas has been evaluated using realistic differential cross sections of oxygen-oxygen collisions. A ll the electronic energy curves of O-2 separating to the atomic ground stat es have been incorporated in calculations of the scattering phase shifts. T he total and differential cross sections averaged over a statistical popula tion of O(P-3) fine structure levels have been used for calculations of the self-diffusion coefficient, the viscosity and thermal conductivity of oxyg en gas. The kernel of the Boltzmann equation for the energy relaxation proc ess has been determined. The rate of energy losses of energetic oxygen atom s in the upper terrestrial atmosphere are calculated for typical thermosphe ric conditions. The energy distribution function of the recoil oxygen atoms is constructed using the computed energy relaxation kernel.