Theoretical studies of energy levels and transition data for Zr III

Abstract

Aims. We seek to present accurate and extensive transition data for the Zr III ion. These data are useful in many astrophysical applications. Methods. We used the multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) methods, which are implemented in the general-purpose relativistic atomic structure package GRASP2018. The transverse-photon (Breit) interaction, vacuum polarization, and self-energy corrections are included in the RCI computations. Results. Energy spectra were calculated for the 88 lowest states in the Zr III ion. The root-mean-square deviation obtained in this study for computed energy spectra from the experimental data is 450 cm−1. Electric dipole (E1), magnetic dipole (M1), and electric quadrupole (E2) transition data, line strengths, weighted oscillator strengths, and transition rates are computed between the above states together with the corresponding lifetimes. The computed transition rates are smaller than the experimental rates and the disagreement for weaker transitions is much larger than the experimental error bars. The computed lifetimes agree with available experimental values within the experimental uncertainties.