arXiv subjects

Chongyang Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Chongyang Chen.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Atomic data benchmarked by Large-scale Multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock Calculations for Beryllium

The multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) and relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) methods are used to provide excitation energies, radiative transition data, lifetimes, Lande g-factors, hyperfine interaction constants and isotope shift parameters for the 99 lowest levels of configurations 1s^22snl (n <= 7) + 1s^22p^2 in beryllium. Compared with available experimental excitation energies, the average difference with the standard deviation is 7.08 +/- 1.14cm^-1 (0.011% +/- 0.003%), which demonstrates the excellent theory-observation agreement. The uncertainties of the transition rates are estimated based on two independent methods. The present MCDHF/RCI oscillator strengths and those obtained from the explicitly correlated Gaussian (ECG) method all agree within 2%, except for four transitions affected by strong cancellation effects. For lifetimes, hyperfine splittings and isotope shifts, the present MCDHF/RCI results show good agreement with the few available experimental values, supporting the reliability of our predictions for many states lacking experimental measurements. These comprehensive results can be used in line identification and diagnostics of astrophysical plasmas.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Prediction of Nuclear Clock Transitions Frequency Difference between $^{229}$Th$^{3+}$ and $^{229}$Th$^{4+}$ via \textit{ab-initio} Self-Consistent Field Theory

The $^{229}\text{Th}$ isotope is a promising candidate for nuclear clocks, with its transition frequency influenced by electron-induced nuclear frequency shifts. This effect is comparatively small and requires high-precision theoretical calculations. In this work, we employed a non-perturbative multi-configuration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) method, in contrast to the perturbation theory used previously, to resolve the field shift effect. This method accounts for subtle differences in the nuclear potential while considering the $^{229}\text{Th}$ isotope in both its ground and isomeric states. Consequently, the nuclear transition frequency difference of between $^{229}\text{Th}^{3+}$ and $^{229}\text{Th}^{4+}$ was determined to be $-639$~MHz with computational convergency down to 1~MHz. Given recent precision measured transition frequency of $^{229}\text{Th}^{4+}$in $^{229}\text{Th}$-doped CaF$_2$ [Nature 633, 63 (2024)], the transition frequency of isolated $^{229}\text{Th}^{3+}$ is predicted to be $2,020,406,745 (1)_\text{comp.}(77)_{δ\langle r^2 \rangle} (100)_\text{ext.}$~MHz, with brackets indicating uncertainties stemming from our atomic structure computations, the input nuclear charge radii from nuclear data tables, and the influence of the crystal environment as reported in the literature. This provides valuable guidance for direct laser excitation of isolated $^{229}\text{Th}^{3+}$ based on ion traps experiments.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2024

Graspg -- An extension to Grasp2018 based on Configuration State Function Generators

The Graspg program package is an extension of Grasp2018 [Comput. Phys. Commun. 237 (2019) 184-187] based on configuration state function generators (CSFGs). The generators keep spin-angular integrations at a minimum and reduce substantially the execution time and the memory requirements for large-scale multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) and relativistic configuration interaction (CI) atomic structure calculations. The package includes the improvements reported in [Atoms 11 (2023) 12] in terms of redesigned and efficient constructions of direct- and exchange potentials, as well as Lagrange multipliers, and additional parallelization of the diagonalization procedure. Tools have been developed for predicting configuration state functions (CSFs) that are unimportant and can be discarded for large MCDHF or CI calculations based on results from smaller calculations, thus providing efficient methods for a priori condensation. The package provides a seamless interoperability with Grasp2018. From extensive test runs and benchmarking, we have demonstrated reductions in the execution time and disk file sizes with factors of 37 and 98, respectively, for MCDHF calculations based on large orbital sets compared to corresponding Grasp2018 calculations. For CI calculations, reductions of the execution time with factors over 200 have been attained. With a sensible use of the new possibilities for a priori condensation, CI calculations with nominally hundreds of millions of CSFs can be handled.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2023

Experimental Access to Observing Decay from Extremely Long-Lived Metastable Electronic States via Penning Trap Spectrometry

Long-lived ionic quantum states known as metastable electronic states in highly-charged ions (HCIs) are of great interest in fundamental physics. Especially, it generates transitions with very narrow natural linewidth which is a promising candidate for use in the next generation HCI atomic clocks to reach an accuracy below $10^{-19}$. A recent experiment reported in [Nature,581(7806) 2020], used Penning trap mass spectrometry to measure the energy of an extremely long-lived metastable electronic state, thus opening doors to search for HCI clock transitions. Building upon prior research, this study introduces an experimental proposal with the goal of measuring lifetimes of the metastable states beyond seconds. Our approach employs a sequential pulse-and-phase measurement scheme, allowing for direct observations of the decay processes from metastable electronic states through single-ion mass spectrometry in a Penning trap. This measurement poses a significant challenge to conventional techniques like fluorescence detection. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this method, we conducted a comprehensive simulation under real experimental conditions, yielding promising results in a specific scenario. Two suitable candidates are proposed for testing this method, and the state-of-the-art MCDHF theory are employed for accurate energy levels and transition rate calculations. Some future prospects in the experimental determinations of a wide range of energy and lifetimes of long-lived metastable electronic states, probing hyperfine and magnetic quenching effects on high-order forbidden transitions and search for highly quality HCI clock transitions are discussed.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

Energy Levels, Transition Rates and Electron Impact Excitation Rates for B-like Kr XXXII

Energy levels and transition rates for electric-dipole, electric-quadrupole, electric-octupole, magnetic-dipole, and magnetic-quadrupole transitions among the levels arising from the $n\ \leq$ 5 configurations in B-like Kr XXXII are calculated by using two state-of-the-art methods, namely, the multi-configuration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) approach and the second-order many-body perturbation theory (RMBPT). Our results are compared with several available experimental and other theoretical values. Electron-impact excitation (EIE) collision strengths are calculated via the independent process and isolated resonance approximation using distorted-wave (denoted by IPIRDW). Radiation damping effects on the resonance excitation contributions are included. Effective collision strengths are calculated as a function of electron temperature by assuming a Maxwellian electron velocity distribution. Spectral line intensities are modeled by using collision radiative model, and several line pairs pointed out might be useful for density diagnostics.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Observation of Electric-Dipole Transitions in the Laser-Cooling Candidate Th$^-$

Despite the fact that the laser cooling method is a well-established technique to obtain ultra-cold neutral atoms and atomic cations, it has so far never been applied to atomic anions due to the lack of suitable electric-dipole transitions. Efforts of more than a decade currently has La$^-$ as the only promising candidate for laser cooling. Our previous work [Tang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 203002(2019)] showed that Th$^-$ is also a potential candidate. Here we report on a combination of experimental and theoretical studies to determine the relevant transition frequencies, transition rates, and branching ratios in Th$^-$. The resonant frequency of the laser cooling transition is determined to be $ν/c$ = 4118.0 (10) cm$^{-1}$. The transition rate is calculated as A=1.17x10^4 s$^{-1}$. The branching fraction to dark states is very small, 1.47x10$^{-10}$, thus this represents an ideal closed cycle for laser cooling. Since Th has zero nuclear spin, it is an excellent candidate to be used to sympathetically cool antiprotons in a Penning trap.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2015

A Novel Method to Determine Magnetic Fields in low-density Plasma e.g. Solar Flares Facilitated Through Accidental Degeneracy of Quantum States in Fe$^{9+}$

We propose a new method to determine magnetic fields, by using the magnetic-field induced electric dipole transition $3p^43d\,^4\mathrm{D}_{7/2}$ $\rightarrow$ $3p^5\, ^2\mathrm{P}_{3/2}$ in Fe$^{9+}$ ions. This ion has a high abundance in astrophysical plasma and is therefore well-suited for direct measurements of even rather weak fields in e.g. solar flares. This transition is induced by an external magnetic field and its rate is proportional to the square of the magnetic field strength. We present theoretical values for what we will label the reduced rate and propose that the critical energy difference between the upper level in this transition and the close to degenerate $3p^43d\, ^4\mathrm{D}_{5/2}$ should be measured experimentally since it is required to determine the relative intensity of this magnetic line for different magnetic fields.

physics.atom-ph↗