We report the respective electronic energies [-5.658 ± 0.024 and -6.369 ± 0.033 keV] and electron emission lifetimes [0.91 ±0.04 and 0.66 ±0.04 nsec] of the longest-lived autoionizing quartet states of lithiumlike ${\mathrm{Cl}}^{14+}$ and ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{15+}$ ions, firmly establishing the energy and lifetime scaling with $Z$. We discuss observable relativistic corrections to non-relativistic variational energy calculations. Production of metastable states belonging to lower charge states is discussed, and it is concluded that many excited heavy ions should exhibit them.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article