Heavy-Ion Atom Collisions - Atomic Physics under Extreme Condidtions

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.