Investigation of the 4D metastable state in Na-like ions

Auger electron emission from 3l3l′ autoionizing states produced in collisions of Clq+ ions with Ne has been studied. The primary goal of this work is to investigate the potential role of Pauli exchange interactions leading to formation of the 2p53s3p 4D metastable state in electron transfer processes. This new work was prompted by the recent observation of a strongly enhanced 1s2s2p 4P metastable state resulting from electron transfer to F7,8+ ions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 (2004) 133201], in which the enhancement was attributed to a dynamical exchange potential between similarly aligned target and projectile electrons resulting from the Pauli exclusion principle. In the present case, such an alignment might be expected to produce an enhanced 4D state in single and double transfer to Cl7+ (2p53s) and Cl8+ (2p5), respectively.