Theoretical calculations of isotope shifts in highly charged Ni$^{12+}$ ion

Abstract

We present relativistic many-body perturbation theory plus configuration interaction (MBPT+CI) calculations of the lowest four excited states of Ni$^{12+}$, a promising candidate for highly charged ion (HCI) optical clocks. By combining the convergence behavior from multiple calculation models, we perform a detailed analysis of the electron-correlation effects and both the excitation energies and their uncertainties are obtained. Our computed energies for the first two excited states deviate from experimental values by less than $10~\mathrm{cm^{-1}}$, with relative uncertainties estimated below $0.2\%$. Building on the same computational procedure, we calculate the mass shift and field shift constants for the lowest four excited states of Ni$^{12+}$, and the resulting isotope shifts exhibit valence-correlation-induced relative uncertainties below the $1\%$ level. These results provide essential atomic-structure input for high-precision isotope shift spectroscopy in Ni$^{12+}$.