A new set of relativistic screening constants for the screened hydrogenic model

A new Relativistic Screened Hydrogenic Model has been developed to calculate atomic data needed to compute the optical and thermodynamic properties of high energy density plasmas. The model is based on a new set of universal screening constants, including nlj-splitting that has been obtained by fitting to a large database of ionization potentials and excitation energies. This database was built with energies compiled from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database of experimental atomic energy levels, and energies calculated with the Flexible Atomic Code (FAC). The screening constants have been computed up to the 5p(3/2) subshell using a Genetic Algorithm technique with an objective function designed to minimize both the relative error and the maximum error. To select the best set of screening constants some additional physical criteria has been applied, which are based on the reproduction of the filling order of the shells and on obtaining the best ground state configuration. A statistical error analysis has been performed to test the model, which indicated that approximately 88% of the data lie within a +/- 10% error interval. We validate the model by comparing the results with ionization energies, transition energies, and wave functions computed using sophisticated self-consistent codes and experimental data. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.