Projectile Coherence Effects in Simple Atomic Systems

Abstract

Recent studies of projectile coherence effects in ion-atom collisions are presented. For intermediate-energy proton collisions an extensive literature provides strong support for the importance of such effects. In this regime coherence effects are now used as a tool to study the few-body dynamics very sensitively. In contrast, for high-energy ion impact the literature is much sparser and here an important role of coherence effects cannot be regarded as being established. In this context, a recent claim that in COLTRIMS experiments the coherence properties are determined only by the target beam is rebutted.