In the artificial-channel method, an N-channel Hamiltonian describing the multichannel decay of a system is embedded in an (N+1)-channel Hamiltonian. The resonance energies and partial widths of the original N-channel physical problem are related simply to the parameters in the Lorentzian forms of the inelastic-scattering probabilities of the (N+1)-channel problem, the artificial-channel method permitting a straightforward study of a half-collision process with algorithms developed for full scattering processes. The utility of the method is demonstrated numerically for a model problem of Child and Lefebvre [Mol. Phys. 34, 379 (1977)].

• Received 10 December 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.43.3474