José Paulo Santos

In this paper we review the different relativistic and QED contributions to energies, ionic radii, transition probabilities and Landé g-factors in super-heavy elements, with the help of the MultiConfiguration Dirac-Fock method (MCDF). The effects of taking into account the Breit interaction to all orders by including it in the self-consistent field process are demonstrated. State of the art radiative corrections are included in the calculation and discussed. We also study the non-relativistic limit of MCDF calculation and find that the non-relativistic offset can be unexpectedly large.Topical Issue on the Atomic Properties of the Heaviest Elements

The determination of atomic masses from highly ionized atoms using Penning Traps requires precise values for electronic binding energies. In the present work, binding energies of several ions (from several elements) are calculated in the framework of two relativistic many-body methods: Relativistic Many-Body Perturbation Theory (RMBPT) and Multi-Configuration Dirac– Fock (MCDF). The ions studied in this work are: Cl (He and Li-like), Se (F and Ne-like), Cs (He, Be, Ne, Al, Cl, Ar, K, Kr, Xe-like and neutral Cs), Hg, Pb and U (Br and Kr-like). Some of them are presented in this paper. Cesium has been treated in more details, allowing for a systematic comparison between MCDF and RMBPT methods. The Cs ions binding energies allow for the determination of atomic Cs mass, which can be used in a QED-independent fine structure constant determination.

X-ray intensity ratios, such as the Kα2/Kα1 ratio, are parameters with a large application in atomic physics and related scientific and technological areas. D.

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We have measured the x-ray spectra from highly charged Si, S and Cl ions in collisions with thin foils using a high-resolution x-ray spectrometer. The observed lines have been assigned to various transitions in H-, He- and Li-like ions. For proper identification of line positions, the theoretical calculations have been carried out using a state-of-the-art MCDF code including QED effects, with which the experimental data is in excellent agreement. We have also observed, for the first time, x-rays arising out of the decay of long-lived resonant states in the He-like ions of each species. Details will be presented.

Measurements of electron impact ionization of neutral Al, Ga, and In show large cross sections compared to other elements in the same rows of the periodic table. Semiempirical and classical calculations of direct ionization cross sections are all substantially smaller. Calculations by McGuire [Phys. Rev. A 26, 125 (1982)] for aluminum that include excitations to autoionizing 3s3p2 doublet levels are 2.5 times higher than experiment at the peak. We report the direct ionization cross sections based on the binary-encounter-Bethe model of Kim and Rudd [Phys. Rev. A 50, 3954 (1994)], which is an ab initio theory. We add the autoionization contribution using scaled plane-wave Born cross sections as recently developed by Kim [Phys. Rev. A 64, 032713 (2001)] for excitations to the first set of autoionizing levels. Dirac-Fock wave functions are used for the atomic structure. Our results are in excellent agreement with experimental values and support substantial contributions from excitation-autoionization to the total ionization cross sections for these elements. We also compare the total ionization cross section of boron to available theories, though no experimental data are available.

Formulas for the total ionization cross section by electron impact based on the binary-encounter-dipole (BED) model and its simpler version, the binary-encounter-Bethe (BEB) model are extended to relativistic incident electron energies. Total ionization cross sections for the hydrogen and helium atoms from the new relativistic formulas are compared to experimental data. Relativistic effects double the total ionization cross section of H and He at incident electron energy 300 keV and dominate the cross section thereafter. A simple modification of the original BED-BEB formulas is proposed for applications to ion targets and inner-shell electrons of neutral atoms and molecules. The relativistic and nonrelativistic BEB cross sections are compared to the K-shell ionization cross sections by electron impact for the carbon, argon, nickel, niobium, and silver atoms. For carbon and argon, the relativistic effects are small, and both forms of the BEB cross sections agree well with available experimental data. For the nickel and heavier atoms, the relativistic increase of cross sections becomes noticeable from about 100 keV and higher in the incident electron energy. The empirical formula by Casnati et al. [J. Phys. B 15, 155 (1982)] after correcting for relativistic effects as shown by Quarles [Phys. Rev. A 13, 1278 (1976)] agrees well with the BEB cross sections for light atoms. However, the peak values of the Casnati cross sections become higher than the relativistic BEB peak cross sections as the atomic number increases. The BEB model is also applied to the total ionization cross section of the xenon atom, and the theory agrees well with experiments at low incident electron energies, but disagrees with experiment at relativistic incident energies.

It is known that zinc alloys with iron group metals have better corrosion resistance than pure zinc. Owing to the corrosion resistance of these alloys, Zn–Fe coatings are widely used in automotive industry...

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In this work, we aim at achieving the most accurate quantitative determination of elements in human tissues by means of X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry using the external calibration approach. A calibration curve built using a set of certified reference materials (CRM) of animal tissue was compared with the one obtained with a set of CRMs of plants and leaves with lower atomic number Z but with correction of the matrix using the scattering peaks of the X-ray tube anode. Finally, a calibration curve combining the two sets of CRMs was built and the accuracy of the quantification using the three methods was compared and a more precise method of quantification was obtained. This improved approach was tested on five paired samples of normal and tumour human tissue. Despite the high heterogeneity of the samples, and given the improvement in accuracy of the measurements, significant differences were found in the elemental concentration of low-Z elements. This journal is

Physica Scripta, 90(2015) 054009. doi:10.1088/0031-8949/90/5/054009

Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 130 (2017) 35-38. doi:10.1016/j.sab.2017.02.006