Projectile electron loss in nitrogen

Abstract

The projectile electron loss channel plays an important role in modeling several processes connected to the penetration of swift ions in gases, such as radiation damage, energy loss, upper atmosphere studies, storage lifetimes of low-charge state heavy ions, etc. In this paper we have used recent measurements of projectile electron loss of He+ ions in N2 together with previous data for higher charged ions in order to shed light on the role played by the projectile electron loss in the heating and ionization of Titans atmosphere.