Accurate transition and hyperfine data in Ag I from Multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and Relativistic Coupled-Cluster methods

Abstract

Silver is a key tracer of the weak r-process in late-type stars. However, when the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) needs to be relaxed, accurate abundance determinations become even more sensitive to complete sets of reliable transition data. The aim of this work is to provide accurate and extensive results of excitation energies, radiative transition and hyperfine data for Ag I. The Multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) and relativistic coupled-cluster (RCC) methods were used in the present work. The quantitative and qualitative evaluation (QQE) approach is applied to the MCDHF transition rates to estimate the uncertainty according to the National Institute of Science and Technology Atomic Spectroscopic Data (NIST ASD) terminology. Excitation energies, transition data and hyperfine structure constants were calculated for $18$ states up to $4d^{10}8s$. $57$ electric dipole (E1) transition rates and weighted oscillator strengths are computed and estimated to be in the following NIST ASD uncertainty classes; $4$ in AA, $12$ in A+, $5$ in A, $13$ in B+, $6$ in B, $4$ in C+ with AA $\leq 1\%$, A+ $\leq 2\%$, A $\leq 3\%$, B+ $\leq 7\%$, B $\leq 10\%$, C+ $\leq 18\%$. The remaining transitions, mainly weak transitions involving the $4d^95s^2$ states, are estimated to be in the E class $>50\%$. The computed lifetimes from both the MCDHF and RCC methods are in good mutual agreement and mostly fall within the error bars of available experimental values from laser induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements. The $4d^95s^2~^2D_{5/2}$ metastable state, important for establishing the ionization balance, decay through an E2 transition to the ground state. The calculated lifetime is $163\,\mathrm{ms}$. The computed hyperfine interaction constants from the MCDHF and RCC methods are in good agreement and compare well with the scattered experimental constants.