Helium atom in a box: Doubly excited levels

D.M. MITNIK

Rosario, Argentina

Conferencia; XXIV International Conference on Photonic, Electronic and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC); 2005

ICPEAC

We have developed an exact numerical method for calculating the full spectrum of the Helium atom in a box. The method provides a complete non-perturbative close-coupling calculation, and consists on the direct diagonalization of the two-electron Hamiltonian in a numerical grid. Since we have a particular interest in the doubly-excited autoionizing levels, we developed an additional method, consisting on a constrained relaxation of the wave functions, until they relax on the successive doubly-excited levels of He. Time-dependent propagation of the relaxed doubly-excited wave functions are analyzed, allowing the calculation of the autoionization rate by monitoring the autocorrelation amplitude in time. Furthermore, computer animations were produced to visualize the dynamics of the autoionization process.