Dielectronic excitation of NeK-shell electrons in 2-170-keV N7++Necollisions

We report on the projectile energy dependence of the cross sections for pro ducing K Auger electrons in 2-170-keV N7++Ne collisions. The present studie s, which extend previous work performed at the impact energy of 35 keV, giv e evidence for a dielectronic excitation process produced by electron-elect ron interaction. At impact energies in the range 5-170 keV, the cross secti ons are found to be larger than 10(-17)cm(2) Molecular-orbital energy diagr ams were determined to analyze details of the collision. Analytic models we re used to evaluate cross sections associated with dielectronic excitation. The results show good agreement with experiment. The dielectronic excitati on process is dominant when three electrons from the target are transferred into an excited state of the projectile. [S1050-2947(99)05306-8].