Electron Loss, Excitation, and Pair Production in Relativistic Collisions of Heavy Atomic Particles

Abstract

We present a short review on some of the recent developments in the field of relativistic atomic collisions. In this review, we consider several processes which take place in collisions at high (relativistic) energies. They include: (a) projectile-electron excitation and loss in collisions between an ion, which initially carries electron(s), and a neutral atom; (b) bound-free electron-positron pair production in collisions between a bare nucleus and a neutral atom; and (c) bound–bound pair production in collisions between bare nuclei, which becomes possible only if the colliding nuclei possess electric charges of opposite sign.