Resonant Transfer and Excitation (RTE) in Ion-Atom Collisions and Dielectronic Recombination in Plasmas

In the resonant (charge) transfer and excitation (RTE) process, resonance states in the charge changed projectile are formed due to Coulomb-interaction with the target electrons. The calculated RTE cross section is proportional to the cross section for dielectronic recombination and its projectile energy dependence reflects the momentum distribution of the target electrons. Sample calculations for K x-ray production in S13+ + Ar collisions are discussed. An estimate of the experimental background indicates that RTE is more pronounced for heavy projectiles and light targets.