Eighth International Conference on Dissociative Recombination (DR2010)

Abstract

In dissociative recombination (DR), a molecular ion captures an electron and falls apart. One might initially conclude that this process is relatively simple. However, a review of the DR literature over the past 60 years, since the pioneering papers of Sir David Bates [1], shows that the study of DR has proved to be highly challenging for both theorists and experimentalists. Both this challenge and the ubiquitous importance of the process have made its study rewarding, endlessly interesting, and full of surprises.DR is fundamentally the interaction of an electronic continuum with a vibrational continuum often connected by quasibound intermediate states. Autoionization in the first continuum competes with dissociation in the second. DR occurs at the total energy of an ion plus a free electron and is in the same region as vibrationally excited Rydberg states and other neutral superexcited states. All these states interact with each other prior to dissociation, forming a complex that controls the quantum yields of products. The complexity of the process has required both innovation and ingenuity on the part of both theorists and experimentalists. Over the years, it has become apparent that in order to compare theoretical and experimental results, the experiments must identify the electronic, vibrational and for low mass ions, the rotational state. The traditional disagreement between theoretical and experimental results has been due, in part, to the sensitivity of DR cross sections and rate constants to the state of the recombining ion. Great progress has been made in recent years in both flowing afterglow and storage ring experiments aimed at reducing this uncertainty.The latest advances and insights in theory and experiment were the topics of the Eighth International Conference on Dissociative Recombination held at the Granlibakken Lodge at Lake, Tahoe, California, 16–20 August 2010. The conference was part of a series of conferences on DR that started at Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada in May, 1988 [2] and was followed in May 1992 [3] at L'Abbaye de Saint Jacut de la Mer, Brittany, France, in May, 1995 [4] at Ein Gedi, Israel, in June 1999 [5] on the island of Nässlingen in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden, in August, 2001 [6] at Chicago, USA, in July, 2004 [7] at the Alte Mälzerei, Mosbach, Germany and in July, 2007 [8] at the Resort d'Amelander Kaap on the island of Ameland, The Netherlands. All papers from the last two conferences and this conference are freely available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596.In keeping with the tradition of prior DR conferences, all papers in this volume have been refereed. Our thanks go to the referees for their efforts.Travel support for conference participants was provided by NSF grant ATM-0838061 and NASA grant NNX09AQ73G to SLG. We thank Priscilla Kujawski for proofreading the Dedication.Steven L Guberman Ann E Orel Editors Participants of the 8th International Conference on Dissociative Recombination: Theory, Experiments and Applications. 1. Stephen Pratt18. Randy Vane35. Robert Continetti 2. Chris Greene19. Claude Krantz36. Henrik Buhr 3. Bastiaan Braams20. Xavier Urbain37. Mats Larsson 4. Ed Grant21. Hidekazu Takagi38. Dirk Schwalm 5. Christian Nordhorn22. Brian Mitchell39. Evelyne Roueff 6. Steen Brønsted Nielsen23. Andreas Wolf40. Pascal Pernot 7. Dermot Madden24. Daren Stotler41. Stefan Rosén 8. Radek Plašil25. Slava Kokoouline42. Rainer Johnsen 9. Daniel Savin26. David Schultz43. Xiaohong Cai 10. Jonathan Tennyson27. Mourad Telmini44. Dan Haxton 11. Peet Hickman28. Ruth Malenda45. Åsa Larson 12. Michael Fogle29. Slim Chourou46. Dahbia Talbi 13. Waffeu Tamo Francois Oliver30. Petr Dohnal47. Ann Orel 14. Christian Jungen31. Julia Stützel48. Steven Guberman 15. Ilya Fabrikant32. Ioan Schneider49. Jane Fox 16. Wolf Geppert33. Nicholas Shuman50. Richard Thomas 17. Oldřich Novotný34. Holger Kreckel51. Fangfang Ruan