Collision-induced electronic transitions.

Abstract

We examine collision-induced electronic transitions mediated via long-range electrostatic fields such as those generated by ions and molecular dipoles. The chief characteristics of such processes are the relatively narrow widths and intense strengths of the collision-induced spectral lines. These features arise from and reflect the long-range nature of electrostatic forces which tend to generate long-lived collision-induced transition electric dipole moments. Of particular interest is the prediction that the collision-induced electromagnetic rates are proportional to the Raman cross section of the normally forbidden transition.