Lanthanide elements play important roles as an opacity source in the ejected material from neutron star mergers. Accurate and complete atomic data are necessary to evaluate the opacities and to analyze the observed data. In this paper, we perform extended, ab-initio atomic calculations from Pr II (Z=59) to Gd II (Z=64). By using multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and relativistic configuration-interaction methods, implemented in the general-purpose relativistic atomic structure package GRASP2K, we calculate the energy levels and transition data of electric dipole transitions. These computations are based on strategies (with small variations) of Nd II published by Gaigalas et al. (2019). Accuracy of data is evaluated by comparing computed energy levels with the NIST database or other works. For the energy levels, we obtain the average relative accuracy of 8%, 12%, 6%, 8%, and 7% for Pr II, Pm II, Sm II, Eu II, and Gd II ions, respectively as compared with the NIST data. Accuracy of energy transfer to the wavelength as 3%, 14% and 11% for Pr II, Eu II and Gd II. Our computed E1 type transition probabilities are in good agreement with experimental values presented by other authors especially for strong transitions.
The current status of gaseous transport studies of the singly-charged lanthanide and actinide ions is reviewed in light of potential applications to superheavy ions. The measurements and calculations for the mobility of lanthanide ions in He and Ar agree well, and they are remarkably sensitive to the electronic configuration of the ion, namely, whether the outer electronic shells are 6s, 5d6s or 6s$^2$. The previous theoretical work is extended here to ions of the actinide family with zero electron orbital momentum: Ac$^+$ (7s$^2$, $^1$S), Am$^+$ (5f$^7$7s $^9$S$^\circ$), Cm$^+$ (5f$^7$7s$^2$ …
We investigate the effect of the presence of lanthanides (Z = 57- 71) on the kilonova at t~hours after the neutron star merger for the first time. For this purpose, we calculate the atomic structures and the opacities for selected lanthanides: Nd (Z = 60), Sm (Z = 62), and Eu (Z = 63). We consider the ionization degree up to tenth (XI), applicable for the ejecta at t ~ a few hours after the merger, when the temperature is T ~ 10^5 K. We find that the opacities for the highly ionized lanthanides are exceptionally high, reaching k_exp~1000 cm^2/g for Eu, due to the highly dense energy levels. Us…
We use relativistic Hartree-Fock and configuration interaction methods to calculate the dependence of transition frequencies for singly ionized cobalt on the fine structure constant. The results are to be used in the search for variation of the fine structure constant in quasar absorption spectra.
This work reports new experimental radiative lifetimes and calculated oscillator strengths for transitions of astrophysical interest in singly ionized cobalt. More precisely, nineteen radiative lifetimes in Co+ have been measured with the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence technique using one- and two-step excitations. Out of these, seven belonging to the high lying 3d$^7$($^4$F)4d configuration in the energy range 90697 - 93738 cm$^{-1}$ are new, and the other twelve from th3d$^7$($^4$F)F)4p configuration with energies between 45972 and 49328 cm$^{-1}$1 are compared with previous measur…
We describe the design and realization of a scheme for uv laser spectroscopy of singly-ionized iron (Fe II) with very high resolution. A buffer-gas cooled laser ablation source is used to provide a plasma close to room temperature with a high density of Fe II. We combine this with a scheme for pulsed-laser saturation spectroscopy to yield sub-Doppler resolution. In a demonstration experiment, we have examined an Fe II transition near 260 nm, attaining a linewidth of about 250 MHz. The method is well-suited to measuring transition frequencies and hyperfine structure. It could also be used to me…
In this work, the {\it ab initio} calculations have been carried out to study the oscillator strengths corresponding to `forbidden transitions' of astrophysically important electromagnetic transitions of singly ionized zinc, Zn II. Many important electron correlations are considered to all-orders using the relativistic coupled-cluster theory. Calculated ionization potentials are compared with the experimental values, wherever available. To our knowledge, oscillator strengths of magnetic dipole and electric quardupole transitions are estimated for the first time. The transitions span in the ran…
We report the dispersion coefficients for the interacting inert gas atoms with the alkali ions, alkaline earth ions and alkali atoms with their singly charged ions. We use our relativistic coupled-cluster method to determine dynamic dipole and quadrupole polarizabilities of the alkali atoms and singly ionized alkaline earth atoms, whereas a relativistic random phase approximation approach has been adopted to evaluate these quantities for the closed-shell configured inert gas atoms and the singly and doubly ionized alkali and alkaline earth atoms, respectively. Accuracies of these results are a…
All available experimental data on the spectrum of singly ionized carbon have been critically analyzed. Measurement uncertainties of all published studies have been re-assessed. The scope of observational data includes laboratory emission spectra of arcs, sparks, electrodeless discharges, and hollow cathode lamps recorded with grating and Fourier transform spectrometers, laboratory photoabsorption spectra, and emission spectra of planetary nebulae. The total number of observed spectral lines included in this compilation is 597. These lines participate in 972 transitions. From this list of iden…
The coupled-channel model [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 59}, 363 (1999)] that yields converged low-energy phase shifts, and exact binding and resonance features in Ps-H [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 59}, 2058 (1999)] is applied to study Ps-He$^+$ scattering. Similar to PsH, resonances appear in the S-, P-, D-, etc partial waves in the Ps-He$^+$ system but in both the singlet and triplet scattering channels. The latter signifies possible Rydberg states of $e^+$ around singlet and triplet helium. The S-wave singlet resonance at 2.79 eV agrees to that predicted earlier in $e^+$-He entrance channel (energy difference 1…
Lifetime measurements using beam foil techniques for the $5s5p^{2}$ $^{2}D_{3/2,5/2}$ levels in Sn II are presented. The resulting oscillator strengths for transitions at 1699.4, 1831.8 and 1811.2 Å are reported. We also studied these levels with multi-configuration Dirac Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) calculations using a development version of the GRASP2K package. Our experimental and theoretical results are compared with other available studies.
Using the relativistic coupled-cluster method, we have calculated ionization potentials, E1 matrix elements and dipole polarizabilities of many low-lying states of Ca$^+$. Contributions from the Breit interaction are given explicitly for these properties. Polarizabilities of the ground and the first excited d-states are determined by evaluating the wave functions that are perturbed to first order by the electric dipole operator and the black-body radiation shifts are estimated from these results. We also report the results of branching ratios and lifetimes of the first excited p-states using b…
The electronic structure of singly ionized tin (SnII) is partly a one-electron and partly a three-electron system with ground configuration 5s25p. The excited configurations are of the type 5s2nl in the one-electron part, and 5s5p2, 5p3 and 5s5pnl (nl = 6s, 5d) in the three-electron system with quartet and doublet levels. The spectrum analyzed in this work was recorded on a 3 m normal incidence vacuum spectrograph of the Antigonish laboratory (Canada) in the wavelength region 300 - 2080 Å using a triggered spark source. The existing interpretation of the one-electron level system was confirmed…
We present an analysis of the appearance of the Cooper Minimum in singly ionized argon in both the photoionization cross-section (PICS) and high-harmonic generation (HHG) spectrum. We employ two computational approaches based on the same R-matrix technique to provide a coherent description of the atomic structure of the Ar+ system, finding that the PICS and HHG spectrum are affected differently by the inclusion of additional residual ion states and the improved description of correlation effects. Both the PICS and HHG spectrum possess a clear minimum for all atomic structure models used, with …
High-precision laser spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen has led to an impressive accuracy in tests of bound-state quantum electrodynamics (QED). At the current level of accuracy many systematics have to be studied very carefully and only independent measurements provide the ultimate cross-check. This has been proven recently by measurements in muonic hydrogen, eventually leading to a significant shift of the CODATA recommended values of the proton charge radius and the Rydberg constant. We aim to contribute to tests of fundamental physics by measuring the 1S-2S transition in the He$^+$ ion for th…
Absolute cross sections for the K-shell photoionization of C-like nitrogen ions were measured by employing the ion-photon merged-beam technique at the SOLEIL synchrotron radiation facility in Saint-Aubin, France. High-resolution spectroscopy with E/$Δ$E $\approx$ 7,000 was achieved with the photon energy from 388 to 430 eV scanned with a band pass of 300 meV, and the 399.4 to 402 eV range with 60 meV. Experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions made from the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) and R-matrix methods. The interplay between experiment and theory enabled the id…
By combining our theoretical calculation and recently measured electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constant of the $3d ^2D_{5/2}$ state in the singly ionized $^{43}$Ca, we determine its nuclear quadrupole moment to one percent accuracy. The obtained result, $-0.0444(6)b$, is about ten percent improvement over the considered standard value. We have employed the relativistic coupled-cluster theory at single and double excitations level to calculate the electronic wave functions. The accuracy of these wave functions are estimated by comparing our calculated magnetic dipole hyperfine constants…
Appraising the projected $10^{-18}$ fractional uncertainty in the optical frequency standards using singly ionized ions, we estimate the black-body radiation (BBR) shifts due to the magnetic dipole (M1) and electric quadrupole (E2) multipoles of the magnetic and electric fields, respectively. Multipolar scalar polarizabilities are determined for the singly ionized calcium (Ca$^+$) and strontium (Sr$^+$) ions using the relativistic coupled-cluster method; though the theory can be exercised for any single ion clock proposal. The expected energy shifts for the respective clock transitions are est…
Experimental and theoretical results are presented for double, triple, and quadruple photoionization of Si$^+$ and Si$^{2+}$ ions and for double photoionization of Si$^{3+}$ ions by a single photon. The experiments employed the photon-ion merged-beams technique at a synchrotron light source. The experimental photon-energy range 1835--1900 eV comprises resonances associated with the excitation of a $1s$ electron to higher subshells and subsequent autoionization. Energies, widths, and strengths of these resonances are extracted from high-resolution photoionization measurements, and the core-hole…
We present total and final-state resolved charge transfer (CT) rate coefficients for low-charge Ge, Se, Br, Kr, Rb, and Xe ions reacting with neutral hydrogen over the temperature range 10^2--10^6 K. Each of these elements has been detected in ionized astrophysical nebulae, particularly planetary nebulae. CT rate coefficients are a key ingredient for the ionization equilibrium solutions needed to determine total elemental abundances from those of the observed ions. A multi-channel Landau Zener approach was used to compute rate coefficients for projectile ions with charges q=2-5, and for singly…
We consider parity nonconservation (PNC) in singly ionized ytterbium (Yb+) arising from the neutral current weak interaction. We calculate the PNC electric dipole transition amplitude (E1_PNC) and the properties associated with it using the relativistic coupled-cluster theory. E1_PNC for the [4f^{14}] ^2 6s --> [4f^{14}] ^2 5d_{3/2} transition in Yb+ has been evaluated to within an accuracy of 5%. The improvement of this result is possible. It therefore appears that this ion is a promising candidate for testing the standard model of particle physics.
We present a nonperturbative numerical evaluation of the one-photon electron self energy for hydrogenlike ions with low nuclear charge numbers Z=1 to 5. Our calculation for the 1S state has a numerical uncertainty of 0.8 Hz for hydrogen and 13 Hz for singly-ionized helium. Resummation and convergence acceleration techniques that reduce the computer time by about three orders of magnitude were employed in the calculation. The numerical results are compared to results based on known terms in the expansion of the self energy in powers of (Z alpha).
This work reports new experimental radiative lifetimes and calculated oscillator strengths for transitions from 3d8 4d levels of astrophysical interest in singly ionized nickel. Radiative lifetimes of seven high-lying levels of even parity in Ni II (98400 -100600 cm-1) have been measured using the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence method. Two-step photon excitation of ions produced by laser ablation has been utilized to populate the levels. Theoretical calculations of the radiative lifetimes of the measured levels and transition probabilities from these levels are reported. The calculat…
In this article we study the effects of higher body excitations in the relativistic CC calculations for atoms and ions with one valence electron using Fock-space CCSD, CCSD(T) and its unitary variants. The present study demonstrates that CCSD(T) estimates the ionization potentials (IPs) and the valence electron removal energies quite accurately for alkali atoms and singly ionized alkaline earth ions, but yields unphysical energy levels for atoms and/or ions with partially filled sub-shell like C II. We further demonstrate that the higher body excitation effects can be incorporated more effecti…
We report on a theoretical analysis of the suitability of the 7s 2S1/2 <-> 6d 2D3/2 transition in singly ionized radium to measure parity nonconservation, in the light of an experiment planned at the KVI of the University of Groningen. Relativistic coupled-cluster theory has been employed to perform an ab initio calculation of the parity nonconserving electric dipole amplitude of this transition, including single, double, and leading triple excitations. We discuss the prospects for a sub-1% precision test of the electroweak theory of particle physics.
Large-scale calculations of atomic structures and radiative properties have been carried out for singly, doubly- and trebly ionized cerium. For this purpose, the purely relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) method was used, taking into account the effects of valence-valence and core-valence electronic correlations in detail. The results obtained were then used to calculate the expansion opacities characterizing the kilonovae observed as a result of neutron star mergers. Comparisons with previously published experimental and theoretical studies have shown that the results p…
The singly-ionized lutetium has a number of fortuitous properties well suited for a design of an optical clock and corresponding applications. In this work, we study Lu+ properties relevant to a development of the clock using the relativistic high-precision method combining configuration interaction and the linearized coupled-cluster approaches. The systematic effects due to interaction of an external electric-field gradient with the quadrupole moment and the dynamic correction to the blackbody radiation shift are studied and uncertainties are estimated. The value of the 5d6s 1D_2 polarizabili…
The thermal two-photon level broadening of the excited energy levels in the hydrogen and H-like helium is evaluated via the imaginary part of thermal two-loop self-energy correction for bound electron. All the derivations are presented in the framework of rigorous quantum electrodynamic theory at finite temperatures and are applicable for the H-like ions. On this basis, we found a contribution to the level broadening induced by the blackbody radiation which is fundamentally different from the usual line broadening caused by the stimulated two-photon decay and the Raman scattering of thermal ph…