Effect of the Breit interaction on inner-shell electron-impact excitation and subsequent radiative decay of highly charged berylliumlike ions

Z. W. Wu, M. M. Zhao, C. Ren, C. Z. Dong, and J. Jiang
Phys. Rev. A 101, 022701 – Published 3 February 2020

Abstract

The inner-shell electron-impact excitation from the ground state to the 1s2s22p1/2Jf=1 excited state and the subsequent electric-dipole 1s2s22p1/2Jf=11s22s2Ji=0 radiative decay of berylliumlike ions with zero nuclear spin have been studied within the framework of the multiconfigurational Dirac-Fock method and the relativistic distorted-wave theory. Special attention has been paid to answering the question of how the Breit interaction affects such a two-step “excitation plus decay” process. To this end, we explore the effect of the Breit interaction on the second-order alignment parameter of the excited state and also the angular distribution of the emitted characteristic photons. It is found that, for low-Z berylliumlike ions such as Ne6+, the Breit interaction hardly contributes to the alignment and the angular distribution even at high-impact electron energies. In contrast, the contribution from the Breit interaction for intermediate- and high-Z ions such as Mo38+, W70+, and U88+ is of the essence, and such a contribution becomes more and more significant with increasing atomic number and electron energy. To be more specific, the Breit interaction even changes qualitatively the relative population of the magnetic substates of the excited state as described by the alignment parameter and the angular emission pattern of the characteristic photons, for example, for W70+ and U88+ ions at the electron energies beyond 3.5 and 3.3 times the excitation thresholds, respectively.

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  • Received 8 January 2020
  • Accepted 14 January 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.101.022701

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Z. W. Wu1,*, M. M. Zhao2, C. Ren1, C. Z. Dong1, and J. Jiang1

  • 1Key Laboratory of Atomic and Molecular Physics & Functional Materials of Gansu Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, People's Republic of China
  • 2College of Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, People's Republic of China

  • *zhongwen.wu@nwnu.edu.cn

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Vol. 101, Iss. 2 — February 2020

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