Double-hump resonance structure of the cross sections for electron impact ionization of Ar5+

Configuration-average distorted-wave calculations are carried out for electron-impact ionization of Ar5+. Both direct ionization and the indirect excitation autoionization processes are included in our calculations. Our theoretical values are in quite reasonable agreement with the experimental data. The indirect processes contribute up to 50% to the total ionization cross sections. The possible origin of double-hump resonance structure of the cross sections is demonstrated and the contributions of metastable states are also taken into account.