Charge Transfer Between Neutral Atoms and Highly Ionized Species: Implications for ISO Observations

Abstract

We estimate rate coefficients for charge transfer between neutral hydrogen and helium and moderate to highly ionized heavy elements. Although charge transfer does not have much influence on hot collisionally ionized plasmas, its effects on photoionized plasmas can be profound. We present several photoionization models which illustrate the significant effect of charge transfer on the far infrared lines detected by ISO.