Mechanism for Electron Transfer in Fast Ion-Atomic Collisions

We discuss a mechanism for electron capture in fast ion-atom collisions which has not been considered so far. Similarly as in the radiative capture, where the electron transfer occurs due to photon emission, within the mechanism under consideration the electron capture takes place due to the emission of an additional electron. This first-order capture mechanism leads to the so-called transfer ionization and has a number of interesting features; in particular, in the target frame it results in electron emission mainly into the backward semisphere.