Electron-impact ionization of highly charged ions in a level-to-level multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock approximation

The electron-impact ionization cross section for highly charged ions is obtained in a level-to-level multiconfiguration approximation. The target atomic ion is described by a Dirac-Fock approximation while the interaction between electrons includes static, magnetic, and retardation effects. Level-to-level cross-section results for several highly charged ions are presented to illustrate the computational method.