Isotope-shift calculations for atoms with one valence electron
- School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, (Australia)
This work presents a method for the ab initio calculation of isotope shift in atoms and ions with one valence electron above closed shells. As a zero approximation, we use relativistic Hartree-Fock and then calculate correlation corrections. The main motivation for developing the method comes from the need to analyze whether different isotope abundances in early universe can contribute to the observed anomalies in quasar absorption spectra. The current best explanation for these anomalies is the assumption that the fine-structure constant {alpha} was smaller at early epoch. We test the isotope-shift method by comparing the calculated and experimental isotope shift for the alkali-metal and alkali-metal-like atoms Na, Mg II, K, Ca II and Ba II. The agreement is found to be good. We then calculate the isotope shift for some astronomically relevant transitions in Si II and Si IV, Mg II, Zn II, and Ge II.
- OSTI ID:
- 20640044
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 68, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.68.022502; (c) 2003 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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