Visualization of electron correlation in autoionizing states above the 3p threshold in magnesium

Abstract

The conditional probability density has been calculated for a number of autoionizing states (AIS) in Mg above the 3p threshold. The correlation in such high energy AIS has not been extensively studied and provides insight into the rovibrator behavior of two-electron atoms. The calculations have been done by configuration interaction (CI) with a B-spline basis. This allows for the simultaneous study of the effects of electron correlation and the widths and angular distribution of photoelectrons in multiphoton ionization. The states have been assigned approximate vibrational quantum numbers, and a correlation between the approximate quantum numbers and the photoelectron distribution is observed. Probability distribution for one electron when the other, represented by the small spike, is at its most probable distance from the nucleus. This is a distribution for the doubly-excited ¹S^e state commonly labeled as the 4s² state.