Relativistic Collisions of Structured Atomic Particles

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XI

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2. Nonrelativistic Collisions

   1. Introduction

      Pages 1-4

   2. First Order Considerations

      Pages 7-15

   3. Considerations Beyond First Order Perturbation Theory

      Pages 17-47

3. Relativistic Collisions

   1. Introduction to Relativistic Collisions

      Pages 51-65

   2. Descriptions of Collisions Within the First Order Approximation in the Projectile–Target Interaction

      Pages 67-129

   3. Theoretical Methods Extending beyond the First Order Approximation

      Pages 131-186

   4. Impact Parameter Dependence of Projectile-Electron Excitation and Loss in Relativistic Collisions

      Pages 187-200

   5. Cross Sections and Comparison with Experiment

      Pages 201-247

4. Back Matter

   Pages 249-284

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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.

• Atomic collisions
• Cross section
• Excitation
• Ionization
• Loss
• collision
• particles

• Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany

  Alexander Voitkiv, Joachim Ullrich

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