During the last two decades the explorations of di?erent processes accom- nyingion–atom collisions athigh-impactenergieshavebeenasubjectofmuch interest. This interest was generated not only by the advent of accelerators of relativistic heavy ions which enabled one to investigate these collisions in an experiment and possible applications of obtained results in other ?elds of physics, but also by the variety of physical mechanisms underlying the atomic collisional phenomena at high impact energies. Often highly charged projectiles produced at accelerators of heavy ions are not fully stripped ions but carry one or more very tightly bound el- trons. In collisions with atomic targets, these electrons can be excited or lost and this may occur simultaneously with electronic transitions in the target. The present book concentrates on, and may serve as an introduction to, th- retical methods which are used to describe the projectile–electron transitions occurringinhigh-energycollisionsbetweenionsandneutralatoms.Special- tention is given to relativistic impact energies and highly charged projectiles. Experimental results are used merely as illustrations and tests for theory. This book will be useful to graduate students and professional scientists who are interested in studying atomic collisions occurring at high-impact - ergies. It assumes that the reader possesses the basic knowledge in classical electrodynamics and nonrelativistic and relativistic quantum mechanics.

An understanding of the collisions between micro particles is of great importance for the number of fields belonging to physics, chemistry, astrophysics, biophysics etc. The present book, a theory for electron-atom and molecule collisions is developed using non-relativistic quantum mechanics in a systematic and lucid manner. The scattering theory is an essential part of the quantum mechanics course of all universities. During the last 30 years, the author has lectured on the topics presented in this book (collisions physics, photon-atom collisions, electron-atom and electron-molecule collisions, "electron-photon delayed coincidence technique", etc.) at many institutions including Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, The University of Western Ontario, Canada, and The Meerut University, India. The present book is the outcome of those lectures and is written to serve as a textbook for post-graduate and pre-PhD students and as a reference book for researchers.

The central subject of this volume is the atomic and molecular physics of heavy par ticles as investigated with charged particle accelerators. The natural division be tween atomic structure and ion-atom collision studies, and the similar division be tween the theoretical and experimental branches of these subjects, are reflected in a parallel subdivision into corresponding chapters. In addition, one chapter is de voted to the important interface between atomic and molecular physics with condensed matter physics. A principal aim of the present volume is to provide a compact de scription of a number of current interests and trends within the heavy particle structure and collisions field in a sufficiently general, non-specialized way that interested scientists who wish to become acquainted with such interests and trends can do so without becoming bogged down in excessive archival detail. It is, therefore, hoped that the book will be of some use to advanced students who seek a general in troduction to these subjects. Numerous, more specialized, archival review articles are frequently referred to in each chapter for the benefit of those who seek more detailed knowledge about particular topics discussed. The editor wishes to acknowledge the support of two U. S. government agencies: the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation, during the preparation of this volume. Sincere thanks are due Mrs. Betty Thoe for her excellent editorial work on the various manuscripts and Mrs.

If a heavy particle ion (atom, molecule, muon) collides with another in the gas phase at speeds approaching the speed of light, the time-dependent Dirac equation equation must be used for its description, including quantum electro-dynamic, special relativity and magnetic coupling effects. In this book we study one electron in the variety of rearrangement collisions: radiative and non-radiative capture, ionization, capture by pair (one electron, one positron) production and antihydrogen production. Our relativistic continuum distorted-wave theory accounts extremely well for the simultaneous behaviour of the electron with respect to the nuclear charges of the projectile and the target. This is the first book developed in this subject. Containing many diagrams and tables, and fully referenced, it goes beyond chapters in previous books. The relativistic continuum distorted-wave theory developed by the authors group, is shown to be fully Hermitean. Detailed mathematics are provided in nine appendices.

This book is a short outline of the present state of the theory of electron collisions with atomic particles - atoms, molecules and ions. It is addressed to those who by nature of their work need detailed information about the cross sections of various processes of electron collisions with atomic particles: experimentalists working in plasma physics, optics, quantum electronics, atmospheric and space physics, 'etc. Some of the cross sections have been measured. But in many important cases the only source of information is theoretical calcu lation. The numerous theoretical papers dealing with electronic collision processes contain various approximations. The inter relation between them and the level of their accuracy is often diffi cult to understand without a systematic study of the theory of atomic collisions, not to mention that theoretical considerations are necessary for the consistent interpretation of experimental results. The main constituents of the book are: 1. General theory with special emphasis on the topics most impor tant for understanding and discussing electron collisions with atomic particles.

Introduction. Part I: Theoretical Methods. Relativistic Kinematics. Fields of Moving Charges. Relativistic Electron Motion. Ion-Atom Collisions. Part II: Elementary Atomic Processes. Excitation and Ionization. Ionization-Many Electrons. Charge Exchange. Radiative Electron Capture. Electron-Positron Pair Production. Part III: Experimental Methods. Charge-State Preparation. Target Arrangements. Cross Section Determination. Appendix. Bibliography. Index.

This book is intended for physicists and chemists who need to understand the theory of atomic and molecular structure and processes, and who wish to apply the theory to practical problems. As far as practicable, the book provides a self-contained account of the theory of relativistic atomic and molecular structure, based on the accepted formalism of bound-state Quantum Electrodynamics. The author was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1992.