Theory of dissociative charge exchange in ion-molecule collisions

Dissociative charge exchange is one of the many processes resulting from vibronic transitions in ion-molecule collisions. Its particular interest lies in the molecular breakup that accompanies in specific conditions as electron-transfer process. The available theoretical descriptions of such reactions are surveyed. The salient findings of (i) the classical trajectory surface hopping model, (ii) the high-energy sudden approximation, (iii) the complex local potential, and (iv) the complex local interaction matrix approaches, as well as (v) an unprecedented exact coupled wavepackets description, are put to the fore. Attention is paid to the fundamental concepts conveyed by each treatment and emphasis is put on the relative importance of the various dynamical parameters of the considered reaction.