Density functional theory and non-relativistic photoelectric effects in the few-electron atomic systems

TL;DR

This paper derives analytical formulas for the photoelectric effect in various few-electron atomic systems using a combination of QED and density functional theory, providing new insights into photodetachment processes.

Contribution

It introduces novel analytical formulas for photoelectric cross sections in multiple classes of atomic systems, combining QED and density functional theory methods.

Findings

Derived formulas for neutral atoms and ions with multiple electrons

Formulas for negatively charged ions and one-electron systems

First analytical expressions for certain atomic classes

Abstract

Closed analytical formulas are derived for the differential and total cross sections of the non-relativistic photoelectric effect in the three main classes of few-electron atomic systems: (1) neutral atoms and positively charged atomic ions which contain more than one bound electron, (2) negatively charged atomic ions, and (3) one-electron atoms and ions. Our procedure developed in this study is a combination of QED methods and results of the density functional theory obtained for atoms and ions. In all these systems the photoelectric effect is considered as photodetachment of the outer-most electron and our analysis is based on the results of density functional theory obtained for the electron density (radial) distribution in these atomic systems. Analytical formulas (similar to ours) for the differential and total cross sections of photoelectric effect for atomic systems from classes (1) and (2) have never been produced in earlier studies.