Table of Contents

PART I; The main principles and the basic theoretical frameworks for a nonrelativistic quantum-mechanical theory of scattering; A Introduction; B The main physical features of collision problems; B.1 Recognizable reference points of scattering theory; C Universality of the scattering problem; C.1 Fundamental aspects of collision theory; C.2 Collisions in various branches of physics; C.3 Importance of collisions in atomic and molecular physics; C.4 Collisions and new sources of energy; C.5 Application of collisional phenomena in other sciences; C.6 Application of collision phenomena in technology; 1 The key features of quantum systems and the Kato conditions; 2 Time evolution of quantum systems; 3 The Schrodinger picture; 4 The Heisenberg picture; 5 The Dirac picture; 6 The Dyson perturbation expansion of the evolution operator; 7 Time-dependent scattering theory; 8 Time-independent scattering theory; 9 The problem of asymptotic convergence of scattering states; 10 The principle of detailed balance; 11 Convergence of series of operators, state vectors and matrix elements; 12 Recapitulation of the principles of quantum scattering theory; 13 Summary to part I; PART II Selected applications of non-relativistic quantum scattering theory to energetic inelastic collisions of ions with atoms; 14 The physics of double scatterings; 15 The leading experimental methods for double scatterings; 16 The two main theoretical frameworks for ion-atom collisions from low to high energies; 17 Basic mechanisms behind elementary atomic processes; 18 Direct momentum matching; 19 Indirect momentum matching; 20 Dynamic electron correlations; 21 Thomas double scatterings of the active electron with two atomic nuclei; 22 The impulse hypothesis; 23 Drawbacks of the continuum distorted wave method and its; 'derivatives'; 24 Coulomb-Born-type methods for electron detachment; 25 A variational unification of low- and high-energy methods; 26 Thomas-like dielectronic scatterings in transfer ionization; 27 Projectile and target merged cold beams for highly correlated events; 28 Thomas double scatterings of atoms in ion-molecule collisions; 29 Collisions of cold ions and Bose-Einstein condensates; 30 Fundamental reasons for the equivalence between the classical Thomas successive binary collisions and quantal double scatterings; 31 Multiple ionization in fast ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions; 32 Recapitulation on double-scattering mechanisms; 33 The reasons for the inadequacy of the standard impulse approximation; 34 The reformulated impulse approximation (RIA); 35 An analytical calculation of the main scattering integral; 36 Correlated electronic dynamics at all energies; 37 Correct links between scattered waves and transition operator potentials; 38 Illustrations; 38.1 Computational methods; 38.1.1 Deterministic methods; 38.1.2 Stochastic methods; 38.2 Atomic collision problems; 39 Summary to part II; 40 Outlook; References; Index

Reviews

"...presents a thorough overview of the main aspects of the subject...highly recommended...important acquisition for defense libraries and other science and technology libraries..."
E-Streams, Volume 8, no. 8, 2005
"Never have the principles of scattering theory been formulated and applied to such a breadth of problems from basic physics to condenced matter, bio, chemical and medical physics. Computational strategies emphasize both deterministic stochastic methods adding to the value of the book".

-- Erkki Brandas

"This is an excellent book."

-- Professor Ivan Mancev