Electron Capture into Few-Electron Heavy Ions: Independent Particle Model

Abstract

We apply the density matrix theory to re-investigate the radiative electron capture into heavy ions with one valence electron. Attention has been paid particularly to the magnetic sublevel population of the residual ions, as described in terms of alignment parameters. Simple method, based on an independent particle model, which takes into account the Pauli principle, is proposed for evaluating the alignment of the excited ionic states. By making use of this method, detailed calculations are performed for electron capture into (initially) hydrogen-like and lithium-like europium, gold and uranium ions, and are compared with the results of the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock approach.As seen from the calculations and from the comparison with available experimental results, the independent particle model provides a good estimate for the alignment parameters of few-electron heavy ions. Therefore, our simple model may help to understand the basic properties of the X-ray emission from heavy, few-electron ions without the need for invoking sophisticated MCDF calculations.

Department(s)

Physics

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1434-6060

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2008 Springer New York, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2008

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS