Theory of ionization processes in positron–atom collisions

We review past and present theoretical developments in the description of ionization processes in positron–atom collisions. Starting from an analysis that incorporates all the interactions in the final state on an equal footing and keeps an exact account of the few-body kinematics, we perform a critical comparison of different approximations, and how they affect the evaluation of the ionization cross section. Finally, we describe the appearance of fingerprints of capture to the continuum, saddle-point and other kinematical mechanisms.