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Radial and angular correlations of two excited electrons. II. Correlations of high-lying doubly excited states

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev. A; (United States)

Correlations of two high-lying excited electrons are investigated in terms of simple analytical channel functions in hyperspherical coordinates. It is shown that among the N channels of /sup 1/S/sup e/ states of H/sup -/ that converge to the Nth excited hydrogenic threshold, the lowest channel is always characterized by large charge densities near r/sub 1/ = r/sub 2/ and theta/sub 12/ = ..pi.. at and near a certain critical hyper-radius R/sub c/. This behavior is identical to the charge-density distribution in the Wannier theory of double electron escape near threshold for /sup 1/S/sup e/ states. The different charge distributions for other higher channels are analyzed. It is shown that they do not contribute to the Wannier mechanism of threshold ionization. Properties of doubly excited states and double ionization are also discussed for other (L,S,..pi..) values.

Research Organization:
Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506
OSTI ID:
6422249
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev. A; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. A; (United States) Vol. 26:5; ISSN PLRAA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English