Atomic collisions offer some unique opportunities to study atomic structure and reaction mechanisms in experiment and theory, especially for projectiles of high atomic number provided by modern accelerators. The book is meant as an introduction into the field and provides some basic theoretical understanding of the atomic processes occurring when a projectile hits another atom. It also furnishes the tools for a mathematical description, however, without going deeper into the technical details, which can be found in the literature given. With this aim, the focus is on reactions, in which only a single active electron participates. Collisional excitation, ionization and charge transfer are discussed for collision velocities ranging from slow to comparable to the speed of light. For the highest projectile velocities, energy can be converted into mass, so that electron-positron pairs are created. In addition to the systematic treatment, a theoretical section specializes on electron-electron correlations and three chapters are devoted to selected highlights bordering to surface science and to physics with antiprotons. * Simple access to the theory of collisions between ions and atoms * Systematic treatment of basic features needed for an understanding * Mathematical details are omitted and referred to references * In order to bear out the essential ideas most clearly, a single active electron is assumed in most cases * In selected examples, theoretical results are confronted with experiment * Discussion supported by a large number of illustrations * Selected highlights in borderline fields are presented

The few-body problem (FBP), the essence of which is the Schrödinger equation is not solvable for more than two interacting particles. Atomic collisions are ideally suited to study the FBP because the underlying force is essentially understood and because simple systems can be studied for which kinematically complete experiments are feasible. The book would cover various experimental and theoretical approaches in atomic collision research.

Four years after a first meeting in BADDECK, Canada, on the Physics of Ion-Ion and Electron-Ion collisions, a second Nato Advanced Study Institute, in HAl~/Lesse, Belgium, reexamined the subject which had become almost a new one, in consideration of the many important developments that had occured in the mean time. The developments have been particularly impressive in two areas : the di-electronic recombination of electrons with ions and the collisional processes of mUltiply charged ions. For dielectronic recombination, a major event was the obtainment, in 1983, of the first experimental data. This provided, at last, a non speculative basis for the study of that intricate and subtle process and strongly stimulated the theoretical activities. Multiply charged ions, on the other hand, have become popular, thanks to the development of powerful ion sources. This circumstance, together with a pressing demand from thermonuclear research for ionisation and charge exchange cross sections, has triggered systematic experimental investigations and new theoretical studies, which have contributed to considerably enlarge, over the last five years, our understanding of the collisional processes of multiply charged ions. Dielectronic recombination and multiply charged ions were therefore central points in the programme of the A.S.I. in HAN/Lesse and are given a corresponding emphasis in the present book.

With the advent of heavy-ion reactions, nuclear physics has acquired a new frontier. The new heavy-ion sources operating at electrostatic accelerators and the high-energy experiments performed at Berkeley, Dubna, Manchester and Orsay, have opened up the field, and have shown us impressive new prospects. The new accelerators now under construction at Berlin, Daresbury and Darmstadt, as well as those under consideration (GANIL, Oak Ridge, etc. ) are expected to add significantly to our knowledge and understanding of nuclear properties. This applies not only to such exotic topics as the existence and lifetimes of superheavy elements, or the possibil ity of shock waves in nuclei, but also to such more mundane issues as high-spin states, new regions of deformed nuclei and friction forces. The field promises not only to produce a rich variety of interesting phenomena, but also to have wide-spread theoretical implications. Heavy-ion reactions are characterized by the large masses of the fragments, as well as the high total energy and the large total angular momentum typically involved in the collision. A purely quantum-mechanical description of such a collision process may be too complicated to be either possible or inter esting. We expect and, in some cases,know that the classical limit, the limit of geometrical optics, a quantum-statistical or a hydrodynamical description correctly account for typical features.

Comprehensive guide to an important materials science technique for students and researchers.

Electron EM reviews the theoretical and experimental work of the last 30 years on continuous electron emission in energetic ion-atom collisions. High incident energies for which the projectile is faster than the mean orbital velocity of the active electron are considered. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of ionization mechanisms. They are interpreted in terms of Coulomb centers associated with the projectile and target nuclear fields which strongly interact with the outgoing electron. General properties of the two-center electron emission are analyzed. Particular attention is given to screening effects. A brief overview of multiple ionization processes is also presented. The survey concludes with a complete compilation of experimental studies of ionization cross sections.