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Projection-operator approach to the unified treatment of radiative and dielectronic recombination

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. A; (United States)
A formalism that is based on projection operators is employed to obtain ageneral recipe for constructing matrix elements of the transition or /ital T/operator for electron-ion photorecombination processes in model systemsfeaturing a limited number of discrete states and continua. Theprojection-operator formalism allows for a natural separation of the totaltransition operator into a direct, or radiative recombination, contribution anda resonance, or dielectronic recombination contribution. Implementation of thegeneral recipe is discussed, and expressions for matrix elements of neededpropagators in the combined Hilbert space of electron and photon continua arederived for model systems in which one makes the pole approximation on thephoton continua, but not on the electron continua. The simplifications thatoccur when the pole approximation is made on all continua are presented.Finally, the recipe is employed to describe photorecombination for two modelsystems that feature an isolated autoionizing state. One model includes anarbitrary number of possible final-state photon continua, and the second modelincludes an arbitrary number of possible final-state electron continua. For theformer model, it is shown how the various terms entering into the expressionfor the recombination transition amplitude can be obtained from a perturbationseries and interpreted in terms of Feynman-like diagrams.
Research Organization:
Department of Physics, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506(US); Condensed Matter and Radiation Sciences Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375-5000
OSTI ID:
6016546
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. A; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. A; (United States) Vol. 40:1; ISSN PLRAA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English