Ionization cross sections and rate coefficients for the ground state of AsI-like ions

Abstract

Detailed level-by-level calculations of cross sections and rate coefficients for electron impact direct ionization and excitation-autoionization of AsI-like ions in the 3d ¹⁰4s ²4p ³ (⁴S_3/2) ground state have been performed. The cross sections are presented in the energy range near the threshold for the five ions Mo⁹⁺, Xe²¹⁺, Pr²⁶⁺, Dy³³⁺ and W⁴¹⁺. The rate coefficients are given for all the ions from Sr⁵⁺ to U⁵⁹⁺ in the AsI sequence at the seven electron temperatures (k T _e = 0.1E _I ,0.3E _I ,0.5E _I ,0.7E _I ,E _I ,2E _I and 10E _I , where E _I is the first ionization energy). The calculations include the contribution of direct ionization (DI) calculated using the Lotz formula approximation and the contributions of excitation-autoionization (EA) computed in the framework of the Distorted Wave (DW) approximation for the 4s − nl, 3d − nl and 3p − nl resonant inner-shell excitations. The ionization enhancement due to the EA channels is presented as a function of Z along the AsI isoelectronic sequence. The present results show the great importance of the EA processes; an ionization enhancement factor of up to 6.5 is predicted for instance for Dy³³⁺ (Z = 66) at electron temperature of coronal equilibrium maximum abundance.