Relativistic effects in ionization of heavy hydrogen-like ions by short x-ray pulses

The probability of photoionization of a heavy hydrogen like ion is calculated within the relativistic perturbation theory. The Coulomb potential of a heavy nucleus is taken into account accurately by usage of the corresponding solutions of the Dirac equation. The obtained probability is compared with both nonrelativistic limit and with nonperturbative results based on the numerical solution of the time-dependent Dirac equation. Suppression of ionization is observed in the secondary ionization channel at photon frequency of about PLANCK CONSTANT OVER TWO PI omega approximate to mc (2).

Automated summary

The probability of photoionization of a heavy hydrogen-like ion is calculated using relativistic perturbation theory. The accurate account of the Coulomb potential of a heavy nucleus is achieved by solving the Dirac equation. The obtained probability is compared to the nonrelativistic limit and to nonperturbative results from numerical solutions of the time-dependent Dirac equation. Suppression of ionization is observed in the secondary ionization channel at a photon frequency approximately equal to mc(2)/PLANCK CONSTANT OVER TWO PI omega.