Multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock Calculations with Spectroscopic Accuracy: Applications to Astrophysics

Atomic data, such as wavelengths, spectroscopic labels, broadening parameters and transition rates, are necessary for many applications, especially in plasma diagnostics, and for interpreting the spectra of distant astrophysical objects. The experiment with its limited resources is unlikely to ever be able to provide a complete dataset on any atomic system. Instead, the bulk of the data must be calculated. Based on fundamental principles and well-justified approximations, theoretical atomic physics derives and implements algorithms and computational procedures that yield the desired data. We review progress and recent developments in fully-relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock methods and show how large-scale calculations can give transition energies of spectroscopic accuracy, i.e., with an accuracy comparable to the one obtained from observations, as well as transition rates with estimated uncertainties of a few percent for a broad range of ions. Finally, we discuss further developments and challenges.