Role of multistep processes in heavy-ion inner-shell excitations

This Letter discusses inner-shell excitation in collisions of very heavy ions (Z1+Z2≳140) in the framework of the quasimolecular model. The importance of multistep excitations and of coupling between continuum states is demonstrated. The 1sσ vacancy probabilities resulting from coupled-channels calculations exceed perturbation theory by a factor 3-5, thus giving good agreement with recent experimental results