Electron Capture to Continuum States

The energy spectra for forward ejected electrons in ion-atom collisions exhibit a cusp-shaped feature peaked in energy and angle at v¿e = v¿i, where v¿e and v¿i are the electron and projectile ion velocities respectively. Studies of 1.6 - 3.8 MeV/A Cq+, Oq+, and Siq+ ions traversing various targets have been carried out using the BNL and ORNL Tandem Van de Graaff accelerators to determine the dependencies of yields and shapes for forward electron peaks on the variables: projectile Zl, target, and projectile velocity vi. Comparisons of these experimental results and current theoretical predictions are made and obvious disagreements are pointed out.