This self-contained text introduces readers to the field of high-energy atomic physics - a new regime of photon-atom interactions in which the photon energies significantly exceed the atomic or molecular binding energies, and which opened up with the recent advent of new synchrotron sources.

From a theoretical point of view, a small-parameter characteristic of the bound system emerged, making it possible to perform analytic perturbative calculations that can in turn serve as benchmarks for more powerful numerical computations. The first part of the book introduces readers to...