No Arabic abstract
The paper presents the current status of the theory of bound-electron g factor in highly charged ions. The calculations of the relativistic, QED, nuclear recoil, nuclear structure, and interelectronic-interaction corrections to the g factor are reviewed. Special attention is paid to tests of QED effects at strong coupling regime and determinations of the fundamental constants.
The strong mixing of many-electron basis states in excited atoms and ions with open $f$ shells results in very large numbers of complex, chaotic eigenstates that cannot be computed to any degree of accuracy. Describing the processes which involve such states requires the use of a statistical theory. Electron capture into these compound resonances leads to electron-ion recombination rates that are orders of magnitude greater than those of direct, radiative recombination, and cannot be described by standard theories of dielectronic recombination. Previous statistical theories considered this as a two-electron capture process which populates a pair of single-particle orbitals, followed by spreading of the two-electron states into chaotically mixed eigenstates. This method is similar to a configuration-average approach, as it neglects potentially important effects of spectator electrons and conservation of total angular momentum. In this work we develop a statistical theory which considers electron capture into doorway states with definite angular momentum obtained by the configuration interaction method. We apply this approach to electron recombination with W$^{20+}$, considering 2 million doorway states. Despite strong effects from the spectator electrons, we find that the results of the earlier theories largely hold. Finally, we extract the fluorescence yield (the probability of photoemission and hence recombination) by comparison with experiment.
We investigate electron-correlation effects in the $g$-factor of the ground state of Li-like ions. Our calculations are performed within the nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics (NRQED) expansion up to two leading orders in the fine-structure constant $alpha$, $alpha^2$ and $alpha^3$. The dependence of the NRQED results on the nuclear charge number $Z$ is studied and the individual $1/Z$-expansion contributions are identified. Combining the obtained data with the results of the all-order (in $Zalpha$) calculations performed within the $1/Z$ expansion, we derive the unified theoretical predictions for the $g$-factor of light Li-like ions.
The muonic vacuum polarization contribution to the $g$-factor of the electron bound in a nuclear potential is investigated theoretically. The electric as well as the magnetic loop contributions are evaluated. We found these muonic effects to be observable in planned trapped-ion experiments with light and medium-heavy highly charged ions. The enhancement due to the strong Coulomb field boosts these contributions much above the corresponding terms in the free-electron $g$-factor. Due to their magnitude, muonic vacuum polarization terms are also significant in planned determinations of the fine-structure constant from the bound-electron $g$-factor.
The current status of bound state quantum electrodynamics calculations of transition energies for few-electron ions is reviewed. Evaluation of one and two body QED correction is presented, as well as methods to evaluate many-body effects that cannot beevaluated with present-day QED calculations. Experimental methods, their evolution over time, as well as progress in accuracy are presented. A detailed, quantitative, comparison between theory and experiment is presented for transition energies in few-electron ions. In particular the impact of the nuclear size correction on the quality of QED tests as a function of the atomic number is discussed.The cases of hyperfine transition energies and of bound-electron Land{e} $g$-factor are also considered.
The determination of the electron mass from Penning-trap measurements with $^{12}$C$^{5+}$ ions and from theoretical results for the bound-electron $g$ factor is described in detail. Some recently calculated contributions slightly shift the extracted mass value. Prospects of a further improvement of the electron mass are discussed both from the experimental and from the theoretical point of view. Measurements with $^4$He$^+$ ions will enable a consistency check of the electron mass value, and in future an improvement of the $^4$He nuclear mass and a determination of the fine-structure constant.