Chapt e r 1

I n t r o d u c t i o n
A relativistic atomic collision is one in which an ion or at om impinges
on an atomic system with a velocity t hat is comparable to the speed of
light. It is assumed t hat during the entire collision the distance between
the two nuclei involved remains large enough so t hat only electromagnetic
interactions prevail and strong interactions do not play any role. In order to
experimentally ensure a purely atomic collision, in which the nuclei never
overlap, one has to accept only those events in a detector, in which the
projectile emerges intact, except perhaps for the gain or loss of one or more
electrons. Included in the definition is also a relativistic motion of the
electrons involved. This book specializes in the range of collision energies 1
from about 100 MeV/ u up to the highest energies t hat might be achieved
in the near future and it covers atomic charge numbers up to Z = 92.
One of the fascinations of the field is the hope t hat a realm of new
phenomena will be opened up. In the GeV/ u (109 eV per atomic mass
unit) energy range, it is possible to produce new atomic systems such as
high-Z few-electron atoms and bare high-Z nuclei and to subject t hem to
experimental study. In the TeV/ u (1012 eV per atomic mass unit) energy
range, one hopes to create elementary particles or pairs of t hem by the
intense high-energy pulse of electromagnetic radiation due to the passing
heavy nuclei.
This book intends to set a framework, theoretical as well as experimen-
tal, for describing and measuring the basic elementary processes involved
in relativistic atomic collisions without, however, venturing into the field of
particle physics. In order to bring out the similarities and differences of rel-
ativistic atomic collisions with the corresponding nonrelativistic processes,
1As is customary, the phrase "collision energy" is used interchangeably for the pro-
jectile energy in MeV or in MeV/u.
2 CHAPTER 1. I NTRODUCTI ON
we st art in Sec. 1.1 wi t h some general remarks on t heoret i cal descriptions
of at omi c collisions and in Sec. 1.2 proceed to a brief qual i t at i ve discussion
of nonrel at i vi st i c collisions as far as t hei r relativistic generalization enters
into t he subsequent chapters. We t hen discuss in Sec. 1.3 t he rough depen-
dencies of t he basic el ement ary processes on t he nuclear charges and t he
collision energy. In Sec. 1.4, we give a brief outline of the book, and finally,
in Sec. 1.5, we comment on t he units used.
1. 1 T h e o r e t i c a l t r e a t me n t s o f a t o mi c col l i -
s i o ns
What is of interest in at omi c collisions is t he behavior of t he electrons
while t he nuclei mai nl y serve as vehicles and as sources of t i me-varyi ng
el ect romagnet i c fields.
If many-el ect ron at oms t ake part in t he collision, t he dynami cs become
very compl i cat ed owing to t he many degrees-of-freedom involved. To avoid
complications arising from many- body effects, we mai nl y concent rat e on
t heoret i cal discussions of a t hree-body i on-at om collision system, compris-
ing a projectile nucleus, a t arget nucleus, and an electron. Such a syst em
embraces t he basic dynami cs of a relativistic at omi c collision. For example,
for inner-shell electrons, if the electron-electron i nt eract i on is small com-
pared to t he electron-nucleus interaction, t he one-electron model is a good
appr oxi mat i on.
In principle, all particles involved, electrons and nuclei, must be de-
scribed t heoret i cal l y by quant um mechanics. This approach is called t he
"wave picture. " However, because of t he large mass ratio M/ m~ of t he
nuclei to t he electrons, it is possible to t r eat t he nuclear mot i on classi-
cally. This approach is called t he "semiclassical approxi mat i on" (SCA) or
t he "i mpact par amet er picture. " In t he following, we briefly discuss bot h
descriptions.
Quantum description of the nuclear motion
In t he wave picture, t he nuclear mot i on is described by solving t he st at i on-
ary wave equat i on for a fixed energy. In this description, the incoming and
out goi ng waves for t he relative nuclear mot i on ext end over all space and
are charact eri zed by t hei r asympt ot i c moment a. Energy and moment um
are conserved for t he collision syst em of nuclei and electrons.
Adopt i ng t he one-electron approxi mat i on, t he electron whose t ransi t i on
one wishes to study, called t he active electron, shares energy and moment um
wi t h t he colliding nuclei. In a t ransi t i on between initial and final states,
1.1. THEORETI CAL TREATMENTS OF ATOMI C COLLI SI ONS 3
a moment um Ap is t ransferred from the nuclear mot i on to the electron.
In general, the larger the moment um difference, the smaller is the cross
section. Since a t ransi t i on normal l y also involves an energy difference AE,
also denot ed as Q-value, a mi ni mum moment um change is required to bring
about the transition. This can be shown to be equal to [MeL58]
AE
AP mi n - - , (1.1)
where v is the projectile velocity. The quant i t y APmin plays an i mport ant
part in all atomic-collision cross sections.
In order to implement the formalism, one generally must introduce a
partial-wave expansion for the wave function of the relative nuclear too-
tion. This is often impractical because a large number of part i al waves is
needed. Moreover, in a relativistic collision, the wave description of the
nuclear mot i on requires the use of the Dirac equat i on which, however, is
1
valid only for spin-~ particles. Since the nuclear spin usually is unimpor-
t ant for atomic collisions, approxi mat i ons must be i nt roduced to render a
quant um t r eat ment manageable. For these reasons, the wave description is
very rarely applied to relativistic atomic collisions.
Classical description of the nuclear motion
In energetic i on-at om collisions, because of the large masses of t arget and
projectile nuclei, the relative moment um of the colliding at oms is very large
compared with the average moment um of a bound electron. Therefore, the
de Broglie wavelength, and hence the dimension of the wave packet asso-
ciated with the relative moment um, is small compared to the Bohr radius
of the electronic orbits. Furt hermore, only a very small fraction AE of the
initial kinetic energy of the relative mot i on is t ransferred to the at om in
electronic transitions. This implies t hat , to a very good approxi mat i on, one
can describe the t r aj ect or y of the relative mot i on by a predet ermi ned elastic
Rut herford t raj ect ory, paramet ri zed by the asympt ot i c relative velocity v
and the impact paramet er b, see Fig. 3.1 for the general definition. For high
projectile velocities and for impact paramet ers on the atomic scale (see See.
3.2.1) the deflection is negligible, so t hat the Rut herford t raj ect ori es may
be replaced with straight-line trajectories. The approxi mat i ons involved
in assuming a predet ermi ned classical nuclear t r aj ect or y entail t hat energy
and moment um are not formally conserved within the impact paramet er
picture.
Of course, the mot i on of the electron in the field of the t arget nucleus
and the moving projectile nucleus must be described quant um mechanically.
The electrons t hen obey a t i me-dependent SchrSdinger equat i on (for low
4 CHAPTER1. I NTRODUCTI ON
nucl ear charge number s Z) or a t i me- dependent Di rac equat i on (for hi gh- Z
nuclei).
Compar i ng bot h approaches, one observes t hat t he rel at i ve nucl ear mo-
t i on in a quant um descri pt i on is specified by energy and moment a (or an-
gul ar moment a) and in a semiclassical descri pt i on in space and time.
Bot h t r eat ment s yield i dent i cal resul t s for qui t e general cases of ion-
at om collisions. Wi t hi n t he appr oxi mat i ons of t he order of me~M, t hey are
r el at ed t o one anot her by Fouri er t ransforms. The quant i t y Ap defined in
Eq. (1.1) occurs also in a formal i sm based on t he i mpact par amet er pi ct ure
as a resul t of this Fouri er t ransform. Usually, t he l at t er met hod is mat he-
mat i cal l y more t r act abl e and has a gr eat er i nt ui t i ve appeal . Therefore, it
is used t hr oughout t hi s book.
1. 2 No n r e l a t i v i s t i c v e r s u s
s i o n s
r e l a t i v i s t i c c o l l i -
Nonrel at i vi st i c collisions span a wide energy range, st ar t i ng wi t h chemi cal
react i ons at t her mal energies ( ~ 0.1 eV) and reachi ng t o t ens of Me V/ u in
accel er at or - pr oduced collisions. The lower par t of this range has no rela-
t i vi st i c count er par t . These slow collisions are defined by t he r equi r ement
t ha t t he speed of t he colliding nuclei be small compar ed t o t he vel oci t y of
t he el ect rons whose t r ansi t i ons are considered. If this is so, t he el ect ron
wave funct i ons can follow t he nucl ear mot i on and form quasi -mol ecul ar
wave funct i ons appr opr i at e t o t he i nst ant aneous (slowly t i me- dependent )
i nt ernucl ear separ at i on R(t). Thi s appr oach is called t he mol ecul ar-orbi t al
model. It is not discussed any furt her.
Coupled-channel calculations
Al t hough rel at i vi st i c collisions are never t r ul y slow, for hi gh- Z at oms t he
collision vel oci t y can be compar abl e t o t he velocity of t he i nner most elec-
t r ons (for a more accur at e criterion, see Sec. 5.4.1). The correspondi ng
si t uat i on occurs in t he energy range of some keV/ u for low-Z at oms and
can be t r eat ed successfully in nonrel at i vi st i c t wo-cent er coupl ed-channel
cal cul at i ons (see e.g. [FrL91]). A "channel" in t hi s cont ext specifies t hat
t he t ar get as well as t he proj ect i l e are in par t i cul ar at omi c ei genst at es.
In t he SCA, t he el ect ron wave funct i on (assumi ng one electron) obeys t he
t i me- dependent SchrSdinger equat i on
0 ) ( r , t ) = 0 ( 1 . 2 )
1.2. N O N R E L A T I V I S T I C V E R S U S R E L A T I V I S T I C C O L L I S I O N S 5
wi t h
h 2 ZT e2 Z p e 2
H - - ~ V 2 - - . (1.3)
2me r T rp
The charge number s of t ar get and proj ect i l e are Z T and Zp, while r w and
r p are t he el ect ron coordi nat es measur ed from t he t ar get nucleus and from
t he movi ng proj ect i l e nucleus, respectively. In many cases, as discussed
above, it is justified t o adopt a rect i l i near t r aj ect or y R( t ) = b + vt for t he
mot i on of t he proj ect i l e nucleus wi t h respect t o t he t ar get nucleus, where
b is t he i mpact par amet er (see Fig. 3.1 for a general t r aj ect or y) and v is
t he const ant proj ect i l e velocity.
The salient poi nt of t he coupl ed-channel met hod is t he expansi on of t he
t ot al wave funct i on
~( r , t ) - E a j ( t ) r t ) + Z a k ( t ) r t ) (1.4)
j k
in t er ms of t ar get wave funct i ons
~j (rT, t) -- ~j ( r T) e - i ~ j t / h (1.5)
and t he proj ect i l e wave funct i ons
~k( r p, t) -- 99k(rp)e - i ~ k t / h c imeV'rT/h ~ - i ( m e / 2 ) v 2 t / h . (1.6)
Here, ~j and ~k are ei genfunct i ons of t he t ar get and t he proj ect i l e Hamil-
t oni an wi t h eigenenergies ej and ek, respectively. In Eq. (1.6), t he last
two exponent i al s const i t ut e t he t r ansl at i on fact or in t he l abor at or y syst em,
which ensures t he Gal i l ean i nvari ance of t he movi ng proj ect i l e wave func-
t i on [McC70, BrM92]. By i nsert i ng t he expansi on (1.4) into t he SchrSdi nger
equat i on (1.2), and by pr oj ect i ng upon t he basis st at es ~j and ~a, one ob-
t ai ns a set of linear fi rst -order coupl ed differential equat i ons for t he t i me-
dependent occupat i on ampl i t udes a j ( t ) and a k ( t ) , which are subsequent l y
solved numeri cal l y wi t h t he initial condi t i on t hat for a given initial ( t ar get )
st at e 0, t he st ar t i ng ampl i t ude is a o ( t ~ - o c ) = 1 while all ot her ampli-
t udes at t ~ - o c are zero. Once t he coupled equat i ons have been solved,
t he cross section for t he par t i cul ar t r ansi t i on 0 ---, j , k is obt ai ned by in-
t egr at i ng t he final i mpact - par amet er dependent pr obabi l i t y [ aj , k ( t ~ oc)l 2
over t he ent i re i mpact - par amet er pl ane as
- / l a j , k ( t ~ oc)l 2 d2b, (1.7)
(70--~j ,k
where d2b = 27rbdb. Wi t hi n t he semiclassical appr oxi mat i on adopt ed, t he
only appr oxi mat i on consists in t he unavoi dabl e t r uncat i on of t he basis sets
6 CHAPTER1. INTRODUCTION
in Eq. (1.4), di ct at ed by comput er l i mi t at i ons. If t he final st at e is a bound
or a cont i nuum st at e j of t he t ar get , Eq. (1.7) yields t he exci t at i on or
i oni zat i on cross section, respectively. If t he final st at e is a bound st at e k
of t he projectile, t he el ect ron has made a t r ansi t i on from t he t ar get t o t he
proj ect i l e, which means t hat ~r0~ k is t he cross section for charge t r ansf er or
capt ur e. Owi ng t o comput er l i mi t at i ons, t he met hod becomes i mpr act i cal if
t he collision velocity exceeds consi derabl y t he velocity of t he active electron.
For rel at i vi st i c collisions, t her e are no st r uct ur al changes in t he met hod.
The SchrSdinger equat i on (1.2) is repl aced by t he Di rac equat i on, t he wave
funct i ons by four-spinors, t he movi ng Coul omb pot ent i al of t he proj ect i l e
by t he appr opr i at e Lor ent z- t r ansf or med (i.e., Li ~nard-Wi echert ) pot ent i al ,
and t he r equi r ement of Gal i l ean invariance in Eq. (1.6) is repl aced wi t h
t he r equi r ement of Lorent z invariance. Fr om t he t echni cal poi nt of view,
all mani pul at i ons are a bit more compl i cat ed. A novel feat ure demandi ng
at t ent i on is t he existence of negat i ve-energy el ect ron st at es in a compl et e
basis set.
Perturbative treatment of excitation and ionization
As ment i oned above, for hi gher collision energy, t he met hod of coupl ed
channel s becomes difficult t o apply. On t he ot her hand, owing t o t he short er
i nt er act i on time, t he coupling among basis st at es becomes very weak. It
is t hen justified t o assume t hat t he initial occupat i on ampl i t ude remai ns
ao(t) -~ 1 at all t i mes and t hat all ot her a mp l i t u d e s - except for t he final
st at e j c ons i de r e d- r emai n i dent i cal t o zero. The differential equat i on for
aj (t) obt ai ned by pr oj ect i ng on t he st at es 0 and j only can be solved exact l y
wi t h t he result
a (t
dt e-i(eJ-e~ / ~ J* (rT) Zpe2rp
~0( r T) dar (1.8)
wi t h r p = r w - R( t ) . Equat i on (1.8) represent s t he fi rst -order Born ap-
pr oxi mat i on which may be derived i ndependent l y of t he coupl ed-channel
appr oach [BrM92].
Ther e are several ways t o eval uat e Eq. (1.8), t he most common one
empl oyi ng a reformul at i on of t he Coul omb i nt er act i on Zpe2/rp in t er ms of
its Fouri er t r ansf or m [McC70, BrM92]. The cross section is agai n cal cul at ed
by i nsert i ng Eq. (1.8) into Eq. (1.7). If j describes a bound st at e, one
obt ai ns t he exci t at i on cross section, if j is a cont i nuum st at e, one gets t he
i oni zat i on cross section for t he specified el ect ron moment um pj.
The correspondi ng rel at i vi st i c formul at i on is qui t e st rai ght forward. Be-
sides repl aci ng t he wave funct i ons wi t h t he rel evant four-spinors, one has
1.2. N ON _ R E L A T I V I S T I C V E R S U S R E L A T I V I S T I C C OL L I S I ON S 7
to subst i t ut e the Li~nard-Wiechert (i.e., Lorent z-t ransformed Coulomb) in-
t eract i on in the mat ri x element (1.8).
It is wort h mentioning t hat a new process, occurring only in relativistic
collisions, can formally be described by the same amplitude. Namely, if the
initial st at e 0 is a negative-energy solution of the Dirac equat i on and the
final st at e j is a (positive-energy) bound or cont i nuum state, the process
can be i nt erpret ed as electron-positron pair production, either with a bound
or with a free electron.
Per t ur bat i ve t r e at me nt of charge t r ans f er
In a similar way as for excitation, a simple pert urbat i ve expression for
charge transfer can be derived from the coupled-channel formalism. The
only difference is t hat here the initial st at e 0 and the final st at e k belong
to different centers. Hence the initial and final states are not mut ual l y
orthogonal, so t hat a finite overlap mat ri x element results from the projec-
tion procedure following the insertion of the expansion (1.4) into Eq. (1.2).
Usually, the overlap mat ri x element is neglected as being small compared
to unity. In this way, or directly from the Born approxi mat i on, one derives
the ampl i t ude for charge transfer as
ao__~k(t ~ oc) =
d t e - i ( e ~ ) t / h ei ( r ne/ 2) v2t / h
/ 9~k (rp) e -imev'rT/h ZP e2
* p0(rT) d3r. (1.9)
rp
This is the charge exchange ampl i t ude of the Oppenhei mer-Bri nkman-
Kramers (OBK) approxi mat i on.
In contrast to Eq. (1.8), one observes the occurrence of the t ransl at i on
factor needed to describe the final st at e as a moving orbital.
Strictly speaking, it is not justified to consider initial and final states to
be undi st ort ed as in Eqs. (1.8) and (1.9), because the Coulomb pot ent i al s
in Eq. (1.3) have an infinite range and hence impose a distortion upon the
states (1.5) and (1.6), even at asympt ot i c separations. While this effect
is innocuous for excitation and ionization, it is very i mport ant for charge
transfer, nonrelativistically as well as relativistically (see Sec. 8.3).
The relativistic version of Eq. (1.9) is derived with the usual replace-
ments for the wave functions and potentials and, in addition, by replacing
the t ransl at i on factor occurring in Eqs. (1.6) and (1.9) with the correspond-
ing phase factor generating a Lorentz t ransformat i on instead of a Galilean
t ransformat i on of the final st at e from the projectile to the t arget inertial
frame.
8 C H A P T E R 1. I N T R O D U C T I O N
1. 3 P a r a me t r i c d e p e n d e n c i e s o f t h e c r o s s
s e c t i o n s
The preceding discussion points out the way in which a generalization of
known nonrelativistic results leads to cross sections for relativistic atomic
collisions. The details are the subject of this book, but we give here the
rough dependence of reaction cross sections on the main parameters enter-
ing the picture, namely the collision energy E (in MeV/ u or GeV/ u), and
the projectile and target charge numbers Zp and ZT, respectively.
In general, the parametric dependence is very complicated and can be
obtained only by systematic numerical studies. Nevertheless, it is possible
to extract the dominant behavior, in particular for the extreme relativistic
energy regime with, say, E > 10 GeV/ u.
It is often convenient to express the collision energy in terms of the
Lorentz factor ~/ - (1 - v 2 / c 2 ) - 1 , which is the ratio of the t ot al energy
of the projectile to its rest energy Mp c 2. Since the nucleon rest energy is
about 0.93 GeV/ u, the Lorentz factor -~ roughly equals the collision energy
measured in GeV/u. In the following, we give the dominant dependencies
on the nuclear charges and the Lorentz factor 3' for the main elementary
processes. For the particular case of U 92+ + U collisions the rough magni-
tude of these cross sections is displayed in Fig. 1.1.
I o n i z a t i o n
For the ionization of the target by the projectile, Eq. (1.8) provides the per-
t urbat i ve proportionality to the projectile charge as Z~ while a ZT 2 target
charge dependence arises from the scaling of the target dipole moment. A
more detailed consideration (see Chap. 6) yields the q, dependence, and one
finds t hat the ionization cross section is composed of two parts. In the first
part, the angular moment um projection # j does not change (or changes by
more t han one unit), in the second part # j changes by just one unit. They
have the asymptotic behavior
O ' f i ~ ' + ~j i ) (2( Z~ Z T 2 (1.10)
and
i o n [
cr~ ~,#j~ ---, #j~ + 1) (x Z~ZTr 2 (2 In 3 ' - 1), (1.11)
where i and f identify the initial and final electron states, respectively. The
expression (1.10) is mainly due to the Coulomb interaction while (1.11) is
caused exclusively by the vector potential. The asymptotic increase of the
cross section (1.11) as (ln q,) can be understood by the extension in the
transverse direction of the Li~nard-Wiechert potential shown in Fig. 3.3
1.3. PARAMETRI C DEPENDENCIES OF THE CROSS SECTIONS 9
t I I -
i o n .
I 0 s . . . .
1 0 ~
1 0 3
, - 1 0 2
. s pai r -
4A I
L/I , u -
L/)
0
~- 1 t _/
10- 1
- REC -
U+U
I ' ' 1
1 0 1 0 :~ 1 0 3 1 0 ~
Y
Fi gur e 1.1. Cross sections for various processes in U 92+ -71- U collisions as a func-
tion of the Lorentz factor 7. The figure includes ionization (ion.), the production
of free electron-positron pairs (free pair), pair production with bound (K-orbit)
electrons (bound-free pair), charge exchange (capt.), radiative electron capture
(REC). Adapted from [Eic90, AnB87].
which entails cont ri but i ons from larger and larger impact paramet ers as
the energy increases. Figure 1.1 shows t hat for very high collision energies,
ionization is the domi nant process.
Charge transfer
For charge transfer or electron capture, almost all relativistic theories pre-
dict an approxi mat e charge and energy dependence as
cr~ ~pt o( Z 5 Z 5 1 , ( 1 . 1 2 )
7
where the domi nant Z 5 dependencies already arise in the nonrelativistic
expression (1.9) from the Fourier t ransforms of the bound-st at e wave func-
tions of the t arget and the projectile atom, see Chap. 8. They reflect the
ability of hi gh-Z at oms t o accommodat e hi gh-moment um component s of
the electron t ransl at i onal motion.
10 CHAPTER 1. I NTRODUCTI ON
Radiative electron capture
If electron capt ure is accompanied by the emission of a phot on, energy-
moment um conservation does not require the initial electron wave function
to possess hi gh-moment um component s in order to have sufficient momen-
t um overlap with the moving projectile wave function, see Chap. 9. Cap-
t ure of free electrons is no longer forbidden, and in a t arget atom, all ZT
electrons cont ri but e to the cross section with about equal weight. Since the
velocity of an electron capt ured into the projectile is t hat of a free electron
moving with the speed of the t arget at om superimposed upon the velocity
spread within the t arget atom, the radiative electron capt ure (REC) cross
section into the projectile varies as
a REC c< Z5ZT 1 (1.13)
for large values of 7. For low-Z t arget atoms, the REC cross section exceeds
the nonradi at i ve capt ure cross section. Figure 1.1 shows t hat for U + U
collisions bot h cross sections have about equal magnitude.
Electron-positron pair production
In the limit of large values of 7, one may visualize the product i on of free
electron-positron pairs in the center-of-mass frame as a creation process
by two vi rt ual photons, each of t hem contained in the rapidly time-varying
electromagnetic field generated by a moving nuclear charge Zp or ZT. Vari-
ous estimates for pair product i on lead to rat her similar results, see Chap.10.
In Figure 1.1, we have pl ot t ed the cross section given by Heitler [Hei54] with
the dependence
O.pair ( 7 ) 3
fi c< Z~Z?r l n ~ . (1.14)
This cross section increases with collision energy. At the highest values of
7, multiple pair product i on will occur. Pre-existing atomic electrons are
not required for this process, therefore the curve in Fig. 1.1 refers to bare
urani um nuclei.
For bound-free pair product i on in which the electron is created as a
bound st at e in the t arget K shell, the factor Z~ appeari ng in Eq. (1.14) is
replaced with Z 5 characteristic of capt ure into a bound state. The rough
dependence is given by [AnB87]
b- f pair 2 5 (~~0/
O'fi (2( Zp Z T In , (1.15)
where 70 varies between 6.81 and 8.23 as the t arget charge increases from
ZT = 1 to ZT = 92. As is noticed from Fig. 1.1, bound-free pair product i on
1.4. OUTLI NE OF THE BOOK 11
is reduced by one to two orders of magni t ude with respect to free pair
product i on as ~/increases from 10 to 104. Nevertheless, it exceeds radiative
and nonradi at i ve electron capt ure by several orders of magni t ude for ~ >
100.
1. 4 Ou t l i n e o f t h e b o o k
In Part I of the book, Chaps. 2 - 5 provide some reference material needed
t hroughout the book. They establish the not at i on and the basic formu-
lation. In most cases, theoretical derivations are given, but not always,
because a complete present at i on of relativistic quant um mechanics and of
scattering t heory is beyond the scope of this monograph. On the other
hand, the general theoretical tools needed for a description of relativistic
atomic collisions, many of which cannot be found in t ext books, are pre-
sented in some detail. In Part II of the book, Chaps. 6 - 10, we discuss
the el ement ary processes individually by presenting the t heory and com-
parisons with typical experi ment al dat a wherever t hey exist. In Part III,
Chaps. 11 - 13, we discuss the present experimental techniques. Al t hough
the field is in a rapid development and newer met hods will supersede the
older ones, we believe t hat much of the mat eri al presented will keep its
value for some time to come.
In Chap. 2, we give an overview of classical relativistic kinematics. Af-
ter introducing Lorentz t ransformat i ons and their properties to the extent
needed for the present purpose, we derive relativistic one- and t wo-body
kinematics and the t ransformat i on properties of energies, moment a, and
differential cross sections. In a first reading, it is sufficient to familiarize
oneself with the definitions and the not at i on of Sec. 2.1 and consult the rest
of the chapt er when needed.
Chapt er 3 t reat s the classical relativistic mot i on of bare nuclei and the
electromagnetic fields produced by moving charges. We argue t hat it is usu-
ally justified for relativistic collisions to t reat the nuclear mot i on by classical
mechanics thus confining the application of quant um t heory to the mot i on
of the light particles, electrons and positrons. This establishes the "im-
pact par amet er t reat ment " or the "semiclassical approxi mat i on. " A rat her
detailed discussion is devoted to the "equivalent-photon" or Weizsgcker-
Williams met hod, in which the t i me-dependent electromagnetic fields pro-
duced by the moving charges are replaced with pulses of electromagnetic
radiation. This chapt er is i mpor t ant for underst andi ng much of the book.
In Chap. 4, the electrons enter into the picture. We t reat the Dirac
equation, its solutions and their t ransformat i on properties. The bound
and cont i nuum wave functions for a Coulomb pot ent i al are discussed in
some detail, including exact cont i nuum states with well-defined asymp-
12 CHA P T E R 1. I NT R ODUCT I ON
totic momenta, and approximate bound-st at e (Darwin) and continuum
(Sommerfeld-Maue) wave functions. While the basic properties of Dirac
wave functions and the classification of states are crucial for a further un-
derstanding, some details given about the solutions in a Coulomb potential
mainly serve for reference purposes.
In Chap. 5, the developments of Chaps. 3 and 4 are merged without
going into specific atomic processes. We give some background information
intended for a deeper underst andi ng of the physical contents of the theory,
of the techniques used, and of some special applications. This chapter also
collects generic formulas, applicable to various of the processes discussed
in subsequent chapters. While Secs. 5.3 on moving Coulomb potentials
and 5.4 on transition amplitudes are immediately relevant for the subse-
quent chapters, Sec. 5.1 on the field-theoretical background, Sec. 5.2 on
the relativistic i mpact -paramet er t reat ment , and Sec. 5.6 on many-particle
systems may be omi t t ed in a first reading, because t hey contribute mainly
to the foundation of the theory. Section 5.5 dealing with mat ri x elements
and gauge transformations becomes i mport ant when one wishes to actually
evaluate transition mat ri x elements.
Chapt er 6 discusses the first of the elementary atomic processes, namely
excitation and ionization. It st art s out with an outline of first-order per-
t urbat i on t heory and an illustrative discussion of the dipole approximation.
The finite-difference met hod for a direct numerical solution of the time-
dependent Dirac equation and the coupled-channel met hod are presented
as examples of nonpert urbat i ve approaches. This chapter, while confined
to a specific process, also has applications for the st udy of charge transfer
and, in particular, of electron-positron pair production. In this chapter
and in the following ones, all sections contribute to the general subject, as
indicated by their respective headings, and should not be omitted.
Whereas in Chap. 6 it is assumed t hat only one electron participates
in the reaction, Chap. 7 explicitly considers the modifications due to the
presence of other electrons. This is, of course, the usual situation encoun-
tered in experiments. It is seen t hat a rigorous theoretical t reat ment of
relativistic many-electron effects is not feasible at present, but there are
various viable approximations to take into account some of these effects.
Chapt er 8 is devoted to the discussion of charge transfer in relativistic
collisions which plays a role particularly at moderat e relativistic energies
(see Fig. 1.1). The chapter st art s with a discussion of the Born approxi-
mat i on and its modification needed to take into account the infinitely long
range of the Coulomb interaction. As a practical approximation which
lends itself to a simple analytical t reat ment , we discuss the eikonal ap-
proach which is used for a survey of paramet ri c dependencies. Nonpertur-
bative two-center coupled-channel methods are also discussed. For charge
1.5. COMMENT ON UNITS 13
exchange, a limited body of experimental dat a is also available, so t hat a
comparison with theoretical predictions is possible.
Capt ure processes with the simultaneous emission of a photon are the
subject of Chap. 9. After discussing the basic qualitative features in the
case of nonrelativistic collisions, it is argued t hat presently the best de-
scription of radiative electron capture is provided by t reat i ng it essentially
as the inverse of the photoelectric effect. Therefore, several ways, bot h
approximate and rigorous, of obtaining photoelectric cross sections are dis-
cussed and subsequently used to derive the desired REC cross sections.
Comparisons with experimental results are given.
Chapt er 10 discusses the production of electron-positron pairs. This
is a process t hat becomes particularly i mport ant at very high collision
energies and has no nonrelativistic counterpart. Creation of free pairs
is t reat ed within pert urbat i on theory and by adopting the equivalent-
photon or Weizs/icker-Williams method. Bound- el ect r on- free positron
pair production is described in first-order pert urbat i on t heory and within
the coupled-channel method. In some cases, a comparison with first ex-
perimental results is possible. A brief outlook is given on the problem of
multiple-pair production which may become appreciable at the highest pro-
jected collision energies and the highest t arget and projectile charges. The
creation of heavier leptons and exotic particles like magnetic monopoles,
W-pairs, b-quarks, and the Higgs particle lie outside the scope of this book.
In Chaps. 11 - 13, the basic experimental met hods are described. These
chapters, respectively, present the three main components of any measure-
ment with relativistic ion beams, namely the preparat i on of the projectile,
arrangements of the target, and the use of detectors to determine yields
or cross sections. The preparat i on of the projectile typically requires an
appropri at e stripper. Targets must be chosen according to the nat ure of
the accelerator producing the projectiles and the desired outcome of the
experiment. The detectors must be chosen taking into account the spatial
and t emporal st ruct ure of the beam and the paramet ers to be detected:
charge states of the projectiles and t arget recoil ions, and the radiations
(photons, electrons, positrons) from the colliding partners.
1 . 5 Co mme n t o n u n i t s
Different fields of physics have their own sets of practical units designed
to avoid unessential complications in the formulation. In atomic physics,
it is an almost universal custom to use atomic units, in which Planck' s
constant, the electron mass, and the electron charge are set equal to unity,
i.e.,/~ = me = e = 1. In relativistic physics, one uses relativistic or "natural
14 CHAPTER 1. I NTRODUCTI ON
units," in which Pl anck' s const ant , t he electron mass, and t he velocity of
light are set equal to unity, i.e., h = me = c = 1.
Since this book t reat s at omi c as well as relativistic physics, we adopt
t he following policy. Full units, in which all nat ur al const ant s are ret ai ned,
are kept as far as possible, in part i cul ar in t he general outline of a t heory
and in st ruct ural discussions. This helps to identify various t erms in a
formul at i on and allows for a t ransi t i on to any ot her set of units by equat i ng
t he appropri at e el ement ary const ant s to unity. However, in some explicit
formul at i ons when detailed anal yt i cal developments are needed, it would
be awfully cl umsy to keep all t he constants. In such cases, we locally adopt
at omi c or relativistic units, always in accordance wi t h t he common usage
in t he part i cul ar context. In each case, we carefully point out which set of
uni t s is used. In an Appendi x, we give t he connections between t he various
uni t s for t he quant i t i es of physical interest.