Unresolved puzzles in the x-ray emission produced by charge exchange measured on electron beam ion traps

Charge exchange recombination, the transfer of one or more electrons from an atomic or molecular system to a positive ion, is a common phenomenon affecting laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. Controlled studies of this process in electron beam ion traps during the past one and a half decades have produced multiple observations that are difficult to explain with available spectral models. Some of the most recent observations are so puzzling that they bring in doubt the existence of a coherent predictive capability for line formation by charge exchange, making investigations of charge exchange a fertile ground for continued measurements and theoretical development.