Dissociative Recombination of Molecular Ions with Electrons is a comprehensive collection of refereed papers describing the latest developments in dissociative recombination research. The papers are written by the leading researchers in the field. The topics covered include the use of microwave afterglows, merged beams and storage rings to measure rate coefficients and to identify the products and their yields. The molecules studied range in size from the smallest, H2+, to bovine insulin ions. The theoretical papers cover the important role of Rydberg states and the use of wave packets and quantum defect theory to deduce cross sections, rate constants and quantum yields. Several theoretical and experimental papers address the controversial topic of H3+ dissociative recombination and its importance in the interstellar medium. Dissociative recombination studies of other molecular ions in the interstellar medium and in cometary and planetary atmospheres are covered. Ionization is an important competitive process to dissociative recombination and its competition with predissociation and its role in the reverse process of the association of neutral species is presented. Dissociative attachment, in which an electron attaches to a neutral molecule, has many similarities to dissociative recombination. The topics covered include the accurate calculation of electron affinities, attachment to molecules, clusters, and to species absorbed on solid surfaces and electron scattering by a molecular anion.

Applied Atomic Collision Physics, Volume 1: Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry focuses on the applications of atomic collision physics in atmospheric physics and chemistry. The emphasis is on the physics of the upper atmospheres of the earth and planets as well as astrophysics, including solar physics, the physics of planetary nebulae, and reactions in interstellar space. Comprised of 12 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the structure of the earth's atmosphere and its environment in interplanetary space, along with the structure of the terrestrial atmosphere at middle latitudes. The discussion then turns to the photochemistry of the midlatitude ionosphere; the thermal balance in the thermosphere at middle latitudes; atomic collisions in the lower ionosphere at midlatitudes; and airglow and auroras. Subsequent chapters explore the high latitude ionosphere, the exosphere, and the magnetosphere; the ionospheres of the planets and other bodies of the solar system; atmospheric processes involved in the stratospheric ozone problem; and solar physics. The final two chapters are concerned with applications to the physics of planetary nebulae and interstellar space. This book will be of interest to physicists and chemists.