Atomic Clock States of Thulium have Near-Zero Electric Quadrupole Moment

Timo Fleig

Atomic Clock States of Thulium have Near-Zero Electric Quadrupole Moment

Atomic Physics 2023-02-06 v1

Authors: Timo Fleig

Abstract

A method for highly accurate calculations of atomic electric quadrupole moments (EQM) is presented, using relativistic general-excitation-rank configuration interaction wavefunctions based on Dirac spinors. Application to the clock transition states of the thulium atom employing up to full Quadruple excitations for the atomic wavefunction yields a final value of $Q_{zz}({^2F}_{7/2}) = 0.07 \pm 0.07$ a.u., establishing that the thulium electronic ground state has an exceptionally small EQM. A detailed analysis of this result is presented which has implications for EQMs of other atoms with unpaired $f$ electrons.

Keywords

atomic electric quadrupole moment thulium clock transition relativistic configuration interaction dirac spinors f electrons

Cite

@article{arxiv.2302.01840,
  title  = {Atomic Clock States of Thulium have Near-Zero Electric Quadrupole Moment},
  author = {Timo Fleig},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.01840},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

16 pages, 1 figure

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