Ionization and Transition Probabilities is the first volume in Atomic Inner Shell Processes which describes the relative status of the physics of atomic inner shells. Both volumes can be applied and used in various traditional scientific disciplines. Volume I consists of 11 chapters written by different authors, each an expert in the field. The book discusses mainly the inner-shell excitation by electrons, heavy-charged particles, and photons and the atomic excitation as seen in nuclear decay. The theory of radiative and radiationless transitions is also explored in terms of single-particle descriptions and many-body approaches. Other major concepts covered in this comprehensive volume include the developments in theory of multiple decay processes; transition energies and their calculations; and energy shifts that are results of chemical environment and hyperfine interactions. This first volume serves as a valuable reference to many scientists and researchers in various fields like atomic and nuclear physics, astrophysics, chemistry, surface and materials science, and engineering or radiation shields.

The physics of atomic inner shells has undergone significant advances in recent years. Fast computers and new experimental tools, notably syn chrotron-radiation sources and heavy-ion accelerators, have greatly enhan ced the scope of problems that are accessible. The level of research activity is growing substantially; added incentives are provided by the importance of inner-shell processes in such diverse areas as plasma studies, astrophysics, laser technology, biology, medicine, and materials science. The main reason for all this exciting activity in atomic inner-shell physics, to be sure, lies in the significance of the fundamental problems that are coming within grasp. The large energies of many inner-shell processes cause relativistic and quantum-electrodynamic effects to become strong. Unique opportunities exist for delicate tests of such phenomena as the screening of the electron self-energy and the limits of validity of the present form of the frequency-dependent Breit interaction, to name but two. The many-body problem, which pervades virtually all of physics, presents somewhat less intractable aspects in the atomic inner-shell regime: correlations are relatively weak so that they can be treated perturbatively, and the basic potential is simple and known! The dynamics of inner-shell processes are characterized by exceedingly short lifetimes and high transition rates that strain perturbation theory to its limits and obliterate the traditional separation of excitation and deexcitation. These factors are only now being explored, as are interference phenomena between the various channels.

The physics of atomic inner shells has undergone significant advances in recent years. Fast computers and new experimental tools, notably syn chrotron-radiation sources and heavy-ion accelerators, have greatly enhan ced the scope of problems that are accessible. The level of research activity is growing substantially; added incentives are provided by the importance of inner-shell processes in such diverse areas as plasma studies, astrophysics, laser technology, biology, medicine, and materials science. The main reason for all this exciting activity in atomic inner-shell physics, to be sure, lies in the significance of the fundamental problems that are coming within grasp. The large energies of many inner-shell processes cause relativistic and quantum-electrodynamic effects to become strong. Unique opportunities exist for delicate tests of such phenomena as the screening of the electron self-energy and the limits of validity of the present form of the frequency-dependent Breit interaction, to name but two. The many-body problem, which pervades virtually all of physics, presents somewhat less intractable aspects in the atomic inner-shell regime: correlations are relatively weak so that they can be treated perturbatively, and the basic potential is simple and known! The dynamics of inner-shell processes are characterized by exceedingly short lifetimes and high transition rates that strain perturbation theory to its limits and obliterate the traditional separation of excitation and deexcitation. These factors are only now being explored, as are interference phenomena between the various channels.

A wide range of atomic and solid state phenomena is studied today by means of x-ray excitation or inner-shell ionization, as this volume strikingly illustrates. The strong link between these two fields of investigation is partly the result of the extensive developments within each and also largely due to the broad variety of theoretical and experimental techniques now available. All im portant recent advances are to be found highlighted here; most are substantially reviewed. Two dominant research threads are evident in, the chapters of this book. While clearly distinguishable, they are inescapably en twined. One is concerned with x-ray processes as probes for the study of solid-state effects, the other with the measurement and interpretation of inner-shell and bremsstrahlung processes in iso lated systems. In the first, a given material is made the target in an x-ray tube; in the second, free atoms form the target while a solid material can be used when the effect of the solid environ ment on the excitation processes is negligible. Thus, although inner-shell ionization is predominantly concerned with atoms and x-ray processes with the solid state, there are large regions of overlap which have arisen when a given research technique has de veloped from studies in both areas. To bring out these features we have arranged the chapters in the order: atomic, solid-state, chemical.