A complete formulation of the post-version of the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state model to investigate single-electron ionization of multi-electron atoms by fast bare ion beams is considered. The influence of the non-ionized electrons on the dynamic evolution of the ejected electron is analysed showing that the corresponding interaction plays a main role in the determination of double differential cross sections. It is demonstrated that its inclusion as an additional term in the perturbative potential of the exit channel avoids discrepancies between the pre- and post-versions of the studied distorted wave model.

The doubly differential distributions of low-energy electron emission in the ionization of water molecules under the impact of fast bare oxygen ions with energy of 48 MeV are measured. The measured data are compared with two quantum-mechanical models, i.e. the post and prior versions of the continuum distorted wave-eikonal initial state (CDW-EIS) approximation, and the first-order Born approximation with initial and final wavefunctions verifying correct boundary conditions (CB1). An overall excellent qualitative agreement is found between the data and the CDW-EIS models whereas the CB1 model showed substantial deviation. However, the detailed angular distributions display some discrepancies with both CDW-EIS models. The single differential and total cross-sections exhibit good agreement with the CDW-EIS models. The present detailed data set could also be used as an input for modeling highly charged ion induced radiation damage in living tissues, whose most abundant component is water. Similar measurements are also carried out for a projectile energy of 60 MeV. However, since the double differential cross-section data show similar results the details are not provided here, except for the total ionization cross-sections results.