Proposal for the Determination of Nuclear Masses by High-Precision Spectroscopy of Rydberg States

Abstract

The theoretical treatment of Rydberg states in one-electron ions is facilitated by the virtual absence of the nuclear-size correction, and fundamental constants like the Rydberg constant may be in the reach of planned high-precision spectroscopic experiments. The dominant nuclear effect that shifts transition energies among Rydberg states therefore is due to the nuclear mass. As a consequence, spectroscopic measurements of Rydberg transitions can be used in order to precisely deduce nuclear masses. A possible application of this approach to hydrogen and deuterium, and hydrogen-like lithium and carbon is explored in detail. In order to complete the analysis, numerical and analytic calculations of the quantum electrodynamic self-energy remainder function for states with principal quantum number n = 5,..., 8 and with angular momentum ? = n - 1 and ? = n - 2 are described (j = ? ± 1/2).

Department(s)

Physics

Keywords and Phrases

Analytic Calculations; Electron Ions; Fundamental Constants; High-precision Spectroscopy; Nuclear Effects; Nuclear Mass; Principal Quantum Numbers; Quantum Electrodynamics; Rydberg Constant; Rydberg Transitions; Self Energy; Spectroscopic Measurements; Theoretical Treatments; Transition Energy; Deuterium; Electrodynamics; Lithium

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0953-4075

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 IOP Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 May 2010

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