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Heavy-Ion Atom Collisions - Atomic Physics under Extreme Condidtions
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Andrzej Warczak
Jagiellonian University, Krakow |
One of the actual frontiers in physics is the study of matter exposed
to extremely strong electromagnetic fields. In particular, highly charged
ions form unique laboratories where such conditions are largely fulfilled.
These species can be stored in form of intense beams and used in collision
experiments. For such investigations, precise spectroscopy of photons
emitted in collisions of heavy ions with atoms is required. This emission
gives the details of the specific electronic transition mechanisms operating
in strong fields as well as information on electronic structure of
the exotic atomic systems (e.g. H-like uranium). Among others, details
concerning photoionization of very heavy atoms can be revealed in such
experiments when observing radiative electron capture (REC). Moreover,
accurate measurements of electron binding energies are very well suited
to deduce characteristic quantum electrodynamics (QED) phenomena in
strong fields. QED, the basis and cornerstone of all present field theories,
is the best confirmed theory in physics, however, a precise test in the
strong-field limit is still pending. |
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