Competition between radiative recombination and nuclear excitation by electron capture

Abstract

The process of electron recombination is investigated considering the possible resonant channel of nuclear excitation by electron capture (NEEC), in which a continuum electron is captured into a bound state of an ion with the simultaneous excitation of the nucleus. Transition rates and total cross sections for NEEC followed by the radiative decay of the nucleus are presented for various heavy-ion collision systems. The role played by radiative recombination (RR) in the NEEC recombination mechanism is investigated and theoretical estimates of the magnitude of the interference between the two processes are presented. We discuss the experimental possibility of discerning NEEC from the RR background, studying the angular distribution of the radiation emitted in the two processes. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.