Introduction

Abstract

Abstract A charge exchange reaction in atomic physics is one in which an electron, or several electrons, are transferred from one atomic system to another. This book is about the theory of charge exchange in two-body ion atom collisions. Other kinds of charge exchange, for instance those involving molecules, or three-body collisions, will not be discussed; however, the general ideas which will be developed can be extended to cover these more complicated situations, and also to rearrangement collisions involving other particles such as positrons or muons.