True double capture in collisions of bare and hydrogenlike ions with rare-gas atoms (Z=7-13).

Abstract

We measured relative cross sections for true double capture (TDC) and autoionizing double capture (ADC) in the collisions of slow bare [ital Z][sup [ital Z]+] and hydrogenlike [ital Z][sup ([ital Z][minus]1)+] ions ([ital Z]=7--13) on rare gases. We found that the probabilities for radiative stabilization [ital P][sub rad]=[sigma][sub TDC]/([sigma][sub TDC]+[sigma][sub ADC]) are much stronger when the binding energies of the projectile captured electrons are comparable to those of the limits of the Rydberg (3,[ital n]), (4,[ital n]), and (5,[ital n]) series. The observed strong effect of the projectile core on the probabilities for radiative stabilization of both electrons shows that the relaxation processes of the Rydberg electron play an important role.