K-Shell Photoabsorption of Magnesium Ions

TL;DR

This paper presents new calculations of magnesium ion photoabsorption cross sections using the R-matrix method, addressing previous inaccuracies and applying results to X-ray spectra analysis of a binary system.

Contribution

It provides improved Mg ion photoabsorption data by accounting for orbital relaxation effects and M-shell occupancy, enhancing spectral modeling accuracy.

Findings

Good qualitative agreement with previous data on resonance shapes.

Identified the need for energy shifts in earlier cross sections.

Applied new cross sections to fit XMM-Newton spectra of a binary system.

Abstract

X-ray photoabsorption cross sections have been computed for all magnesium ions using the $R$-matrix method. A comparison with the other available data for Mg II-Mg X shows good qualitative agreement in the resultant resonance shapes. However, for the lower ionization stages, and for singly-ionized Mg II in particular, the previous $R$-matrix results (Witthoeft et al.2009; Witthoeft et al. 2011) overestimate the K-edge position due to the neglect of important orbital relaxation effects, and a global shift downward in photon energy of those cross sections is therefore warranted. We have found that the cross sections for Mg I and Mg II are further complicated by the M-shell ($n=3$) occupancy. As a result, the treatment of spectator Auger decay of $1s\rightarrow np$ resonances using a method based on multichannel quantum defect theory and an optical potential becomes problematic, making it necessary to implement an alternative, approximate treatment of Auger decay for neutral Mg. The new cross sections are used to fit the Mg K edge in XMM-Newton spectra of the low-mass X-ray binary GS 1826-238, where most of the interstellar Mg is found to be in ionized form.