Dissociation of homonuclear ions by electron impact

The dissociation of molecular ions in collisions with 1--10 eV electrons is considered. The dissociaton cross sections are calculated for H+2 and the excimer ions He+2, Ne+2, Ar+2, Kr+2, and Xe+2. It is shown that, under the conditions prevailing in beam and plasma experiments, the dissociaiton process competes with dissociative recombination. It is established that inclusion of spin-orbit coupling in calculations of dissociation cross sections is essential and leads, in particular, to the appearance of two effective break-up channels for the heavy excimer ions