Atomic Processes

This book presents physical units and widely used physical formulas, which are given together with conversion factors in various units. It includes frequently used atomic spectra and data for atoms, ions and molecules, as well as potential curves for diatomic molecules, and provides numerical parameters for transport phenomena in gases and plasmas. Further, the rate constants of a number of processes in atmospheric ionized air have been added to this second edition of the book. The numerical data has been selected from the information on atoms, atomic systems, atomic processes and models for atomic physics in this area, and the numerical parameters of atoms, ions and atom systems are included in periodical tables of elements.

This book presents physical units and widely used physical formulas, which are given together with conversion factors in various units. It includes frequently used atomic spectra and data for atoms, ions and molecules, as well as potential curves for diatomic molecules, and provides numerical parameters for transport phenomena in gases and plasmas. Further, the rate constants of a number of processes in atmospheric ionized air have been added to this second edition of the book. The numerical data has been selected from the information on atoms, atomic systems, atomic processes and models for atomic physics in this area, and the numerical parameters of atoms, ions and atom systems are included in periodical tables of elements.

Plasma Atomic Physics provides an overview of the elementary processes within atoms and ions in plasmas, and introduces readers to the language of atomic spectra and light emission, allowing them to explore the various and fascinating radiative properties of matter.

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.

Professor Philip G. Burke, CBE, FRS formally retired on 30 September 1998. To recognise this occasion some of his colleagues, friends, and former students decided to hold a conference in his honour and to present this volume as a dedication to his enormous contribution to the theoretical atomic physics community. The conference and this volume of the invited talks reflect very closely those areas with which he has mostly been asso- ated and his influence internationally on the development of atomic physics coupled with a parallel growth in supercomputing. Phil’s wide range of interests include electron-atom/molecule collisions, scattering of photons and electrons by molecules adsorbed on surfaces, collisions involving oriented and chiral molecules, and the development of non-perturbative methods for studying multiphoton processes. His devel- ment of the theory associated with such processes has enabled important advances to be made in our understanding of the associated physics, the interpretation of experimental data, has been invaluable in application to fusion processes, and the study of astrophysical plasmas (observed by both ground- and space-based telescopes). We therefore offer this volume as our token of affection and respect to Philip G. Burke, with the hope that it may also fill a gap in the literature in these important fields.