arXiv subjects

V. A. Yerokhin

Publications and source records attributed to V. A. Yerokhin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

All-order Coulomb corrections to Delbrück scattering above the pair production threshold

We report calculations of Delbrück scattering that include all-order Coulomb corrections for photon energies above the threshold of electron-positron pair creation. Our approach is based on the application of the Dirac-Coulomb Green function and accounts for the interaction between the virtual electron-positron pair and the nucleus to all orders in the nuclear binding strength parameter $αZ$. Practical calculations are performed for the scattering of 2.754 MeV photons off plutonium atoms. We find that including the Coulomb corrections enhances the scattering cross section by up to 50% in this case. The obtained results resolve the long-standing discrepancy between experimental data and theoretical predictions and demonstrate that an accurate treatment of the Coulomb corrections is crucial for the interpretation of existing and guidance of future Delbrück scattering experiments on heavy atoms.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

The Bohr-Weisskopf effect in the potassium isotopes

The magnetic hyperfine structure constants have been calculated for low-lying levels in neutral potassium atom taking into account the Bohr--Weisskopf (BW) and Breit--Rosenthal (BR) effects. According to our results the $4p_{1/2}$ state of K~I is free from both BR and BW corrections on the level of the current theoretical uncertainties. Using this finding and the measured values of the $A(4p_{1/2})$ constants, we corrected the nuclear magnetic moments for several short-lived potassium isotopes. The BW correction is represented as a product of atomic and nuclear factors. We calculated the atomic factor for the ground state of K I, which allowed us to extract nuclear factors for potassium $I^π= 3/2^+$ isotopes from the experimental data. In this way the application range of the single-particle nuclear model for nuclear-factor calculation in these isotopes has been clarified.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Model-QED operator for superheavy elements

The model-QED-operator approach [Phys. Rev. A 88, 012513 (2013)] to calculations of the radiative corrections to binding and transition energies in atomic systems is extended to the range of nuclear charges $110 \leqslant Z \leqslant 170$. The self-energy part of the model operator is represented by a nonlocal potential based on diagonal and off-diagonal matrix elements of the ab initio self-energy operator with the Dirac-Coulomb wave functions. The vacuum-polarization part consists of the Uehling contribution which is readily computed for an arbitrary nuclear-charge distribution and the Wichmann-Kroll contribution represented in terms of matrix elements similarly to the self-energy part. Performance of the method is studied by comparing the model-QED-operator predictions with the results of ab initio calculations. The model-QED operator can be conveniently incorporated in any numerical approach based on the Dirac-Coulomb-Breit Hamiltonian to account for the QED effects in a wide variety of superheavy elements.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Ab initio QED calculations in diatomic quasimolecules

We present a theoretical approach for ab initio calculations of the one-loop QED corrections to energy levels of heavy diatomic quasimolecules. This approach is based on the partial-wave expansion of the molecular wave and Green functions in the basis of monopole solutions, written in spherical coordinates. By using so generated molecular functions we employed the existing atomic-physics techniques to evaluate the self-energy and vacuum-polarization corrections. In order to illustrate the application of our method, we perform detailed calculations of the Dirac energy and QED corrections for the 1$σ_g$ ground state of homonuclear U$_2^{183+}$ as well as heteronuclear U-Pb$^{173+}$ and Bi-Au$^{161+}$ quasimolecules.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Two-photon Annihilation of Positrons with K-shell Electrons of H-like ions

The two-photon annihilation of a positron with an electron bound in the 1s state of a H-like ion is calculated within the fully relativistic QED framework. The interaction with the nucleus is treated nonperturbatively, thus allowing the calculations to be carried out for the annihilation with strongly-bound inner shells of heavy ions. Infrared divergences, appearing when one of the emitted photons approaches the low-frequency limit, are accurately eliminated from final expressions. The total cross section of the two-photon and one-photon annihilation processes are compared for a wide range of collision energies and nuclear charge numbers. It is demonstrated that the two-photon annihilation channel dominates over the one-photon channel for the low and medium-Z ions, whereas for the high-Z ions the situation reverses.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Calculations of Delbrück scattering to all orders in $αZ$

We present a theoretical method to calculate Delbrück scattering amplitudes. Our formalism is based on the exact analytical Dirac-Coulomb Green's function and, therefore, accounts for the interaction of the virtual electron-positron pair with the nucleus to all orders, including the Coulomb corrections. The numerical convergence of our calculations is accelerated by solving the radial integrals that are involved analytically in the asymptotic region. Numerical results for the collision of photons with energies 102.2 keV and 255.5 keV with bare neon and lead nuclei are compared with the predictions of the lowest-order Born approximation. We find that our method can produce accurate results within a reasonable computation time and that the Coulomb corrections enhance the absolute value of the Delbrück amplitude by a few percent for the studied photon energies.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Electronic structure effects in the electron bremsstrahlung from heavy ions

A fully relativistic approach is presented for the calculation of the bremsstrahlung emitted by an electron scattered off an ionic target. The ionic target is described as a combination of an effective Coulomb potential and a finite-range potential induced by the electronic cloud of the ion. The approach allows us to investigate the influence of the electronic structure of the target on the properties of the emitted radiation. We calculate the double differential cross-section and Stokes parameters of the bremsstrahlung of an electron scattered off uranium ions in different charge states, ranging from bare to neutral uranium. Results on the high-energy endpoint of the electron bremsstrahlung from Li-like uranium ions ${\rm U}^{89+}$ are compared to the recent experimental data. For this process, it is found that taking into account the electronic structure of the target results in modification of the cross-section on the level of 14%, which can, in principle, be seen in present-day experiments.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2021

Two-photon exchange corrections to the $g$ factor of Li-like ions

We report calculations of QED corrections to the $g$ factor of Li-like ions induced by the exchange of two virtual photons between the electrons. The calculations are performed within QED theory to all orders in the nuclear binding strength parameter $Zα$, where $Z$ is the nuclear charge number and $α$ is the fine-structure constant. In the region of low nuclear charges we compare results from three different methods: QED, relativistic many-body perturbation theory, and nonrelativistic QED. All three methods are shown to yield consistent results. With our calculations we improve the accuracy of the theoretical predictions of the $g$ factor of the ground state of Li-like carbon and oxygen by about an order of magnitude. Our theoretical results agree with those from previous calculations but differ by 3-4 standard deviations from the experimental results available for silicon and calcium.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

High-Precision Determination of Oxygen-K$α$ Transition Energy Excludes Incongruent Motion of Interstellar Oxygen

We demonstrate a widely applicable technique to absolutely calibrate the energy scale of x-ray spectra with experimentally well-known and accurately calculable transitions of highly charged ions, allowing us to measure the K-shell Rydberg spectrum of molecular O$_2$ with 8 meV uncertainty. We reveal a systematic $\sim$450 meV shift from previous literature values, and settle an extraordinary discrepancy between astrophysical and laboratory measurements of neutral atomic oxygen, the latter being calibrated against the aforementioned O$_2$ literature values. Because of the widespread use of such, now deprecated, references, our method impacts on many branches of x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Moreover, it potentially reduces absolute uncertainties there to below the meV level.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

Self-energy screening effects in the $g$ factor of Li-like ions

We report an investigation of the self-energy screening effects for the $g$ factor of the ground state of Li-like ions. The leading screening contribution of the relative order $1/Z$ is calculated to all orders in the binding nuclear strength parameter $Zα$ (where $Z$ is the nuclear charge number and $α$ is the fine-structure constant). We also extend the known results for the $Zα$ expansion of the QED screening correction by deriving the leading logarithmic contribution of order $α^5\lnα$ and obtaining approximate results for the $α^5$ and $α^6$ contributions. The comparison of the two approaches yields a stringent check of consistency of the two calculations and allows us to obtain improved estimations of the higher-order screening effects.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

Two-loop virtual light-by-light scattering corrections to the bound-electron $g$ factor

A critical set of two-loop QED corrections to the $g$ factor of hydrogenlike ions is calculated without expansion in the nuclear binding field. These corrections are due to the polarization of the external magnetic field by the quantum vacuum, which is dressed by the binding field. The result obtained for the self-energy--magnetic-loop diagrams is compared with the current state-of-the-art result, derived through a perturbative expansion in the binding strength parameter $Zα$, with $Z$ the atomic number and $α$ the fine-structure constant. Agreement is found in the $Z\rightarrow0$ limit. However, even for very light ions, the perturbative result fails to approximate the magnitude of the corresponding correction to the $g$ factor. The total correction to the $g$ factor coming from all diagrams considered in this work is found to be highly relevant for upcoming experimental tests of fundamental physics with highly charged ions.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

Improved access to the fine-structure constant with the simplest atomic systems

A means to extract the fine-structure constant $α$ from precision spectroscopic data on one-electron ions is presented. We show that in an appropriately weighted difference of the bound-electron $g$ factor and the ground state energy, nuclear structural effects can be effectively suppressed. This method is anticipated to deliver an independent value of $α$ via existing or near-future combined Penning trap and x-ray spectroscopic technology, and enables decreasing the uncertainty of $α$ by orders of magnitude.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2020

QED corrections to the $g$ factor of Li- and B-like ions

QED corrections to the $g$ factor of Li-like and B-like ions in a wide range of nuclear charges are presented. Many-electron contributions as well as radiative effects on the one-loop level are calculated. Contributions resulting from the interelectronic interaction, the self-energy effect, and most of the terms of the vacuum-polarization effect are evaluated to all orders in the nuclear coupling strength $Zα$. Uncertainties resulting from nuclear size effects, numerical computations, and uncalculated effects are discussed.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Bremsstrahlung from twisted electrons in the field of heavy nuclei

We present a fully relativistic calculation of the bremsstrahlung emitted by twisted electrons propagating in the field of bare heavy nuclei. The electron-nucleus interaction is accounted for to all orders in the nuclear binding strength parameter $αZ$, thus allowing us to investigate the bremsstrahlung in a strong field, where the effects of the "twistedness" are expected to be most pronounced. To explore these effects, we study the angular and polarization properties of the photons emitted in course of the inelastic twisted electrons scattering by the gold target. The influence of the kinematic parameters of the incident electrons on the double-differential cross section and the degree of the linear polarization is also discussed.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Non-linear isotope-shift effects in Be-like, B-like, and C-like argon

Violation of linearity of the King plot is investigated for a chain of partially stripped argon isotopes. The nonlinearity originates within the Standard Model from subtle contributions to the isotope shifts from next-to-leading order effects, which have never been systematically studied so far. In light atoms these nonlinear effects are dominated by the quadratic nuclear recoil ($\propto 1/M^2$ where $M$ is the nuclear mass). Large-scale relativistic calculations of the linear and quadratic mass shift and the field shift are performed for the $2P$ fine-structure transitions in Be-like, B-like, and C-like argon ions. Nonlinearities of the King plots from 5 to 30 kHz are found, which is four orders of magnitude larger than previous estimates in comparable systems. Accurate calculations of these effects are vital for identification of possible nonlinearities originating from physics beyond the Standard Model.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Theoretical energy levels of $1sns$ and $1snp$ states of helium-like ions

Energy levels of the $1sns$ and $1snp$ states of ions along the helium isoelectronic sequence from carbon to uranium are calculated, with $n=3$-$7$. The computation is performed within the relativistic configuration-interaction method, including the relativistic nuclear recoil effect, the leading QED effects, and the frequency dependence of the Breit interaction. All theoretical energies are supplied with uncertainty estimates.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

$g$-factor of Boronlike Argon $^{40}\textrm{Ar}^{13+}$

We have measured the ground-state $g$-factor of boronlike argon $^{40}\textrm{Ar}^{13+}$ with a fractional uncertainty of \SI{1.4e-9}{} with a single ion in the newly developed ALPHATRAP double Penning-trap setup. The here obtained value of $g=0.663\,648\,455\,32(93)$ is in agreement with our theoretical prediction of $0.663\,648\,12(58)$. The latter is obtained accounting for quantum electrodynamics, electron correlation, and nuclear effects within the state-of-the-art theoretical methods. Our experimental result distinguishes between existing predictions that are in disagreement, and lays the foundations for an independent determination of the fine-structure constant.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Diagnostics of polarization purity of x-rays by means of Rayleigh scattering

The synchrotron radiation is commonly known to be completely linearly polarized when observed in the orbital plane of the synchrotron motion. Under actual experimental conditions, however, the degree of polarization of the synchrotron radiation may be lower than the ideal 100%. We demonstrate that even tiny impurities of polarization of the incident radiation can drastically affect the polarization of the elastically scattered light. We propose to use this effect as a precision tool for the diagnostics of the polarization purity of the synchrotron radiation. Two variants of the diagnostics method are proposed. The first one is based on the polarization measurements of the scattered radiation and relies on theoretical calculations of the transition amplitudes. The second one involves simultaneous measurements of the polarization and the cross sections of the scattered radiation and is independent of theoretical amplitudes.

physics.atom-ph↗