A Critical Compilation of Experimental Data on the 1s2$l$2$l^{\prime}$ Core-Excited States of Li-like Ions from Carbon to Uranium

TL;DR

This paper compiles and critically compares experimental data on the 1s2l2l' core-excited states of Li-like ions from carbon to uranium, confirming the superior accuracy of recent theoretical predictions over experimental results.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive critical compilation of experimental data on these core-excited states and validates the high precision of recent theoretical calculations.

Findings

Theoretical predictions are more precise than experimental data.

Experimental data are consistent with the most advanced calculations.

The compilation aids in calibrating X-ray spectra using theoretical benchmarks.

Abstract

Recent advance in calculations of energy levels of the 1s2$l$2$l^{\prime}$ core-excited states for ions along the Li isoelectronic sequence from carbon to uranium suggested that theoretical predictions for the 1s2$l$2$l^{\prime}$ transitions are significantly more precise than most of the experimental results available today and can thus be used for calibrating measured X-ray spectra. This suggestion is verified in the present work by comparison with benchmark experimental results. We present a critical compilation of all available experimental data on the energy levels of the 1s2$l$2$l^{\prime}$ core-excited states of Li-like ions. The compiled experimental data include uncertainty estimates, which allowed proper weighted averaging and comparison with theoretical calculations. This comparison confirmed the supremacy of the most advanced theoretical calculations of the 1s2$l$2$l^{\prime}$ levels over the best experimental results available today.