Direct observation of hyperfine quenching of the 2 (3)P0 level in heliumlike nickel

Storage-ring measurement of the hyperfine induced 47Ti18+(2s2p 3P0 --> 2s2 1S0) transition rate

The hyperfine induced 2s2p (3)P(0) --> 2s(2) (1)S(0) transition rate A(HFI) in berylliumlike (47)Ti(18+) is measured. Resonant electron-ion recombination in a heavy-ion storage ring is employed to monitor the time dependent population of the (3)P(0) state. The experimental value A(HFI)=0.56(3) s(-1) is almost 60% larger than theoretically predicted.

Determination of hyperfine-induced transition rates from observations of a planetary nebula

Observations of the planetary nebula NGC3918 made with the STIS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope reveal the first unambiguous detection of a hyperfine-induced transition 2s2p 3P(o)(0)-->2s2 1S0 in the berylliumlike emission line spectrum of N IV at 1487.89 A. A nebular model allows us to confirm a transition rate of 4x10(-4) sec(-1)+/-33% for this line. The measurement represents the first independent confirmation of the transition rate of hyperfine-induced lines in low ionization stages, and it provides support for the techniques used to compute these transitions for the determination of very low densities and isotope ratios.

Hyperfine structure of highly charged 23892U ions with rotationally excited nuclei

The hyperfine structure (hfs) of electron levels of 23892U ions with the nucleus excited in the low-lying rotational 2(+) state with an energy E(2(+)) = 44.91 keV is investigated. In hydrogenlike uranium, the hfs splitting for the 1s(1/2) ground state of the electron constitutes 1.8 eV. The hyperfine-quenched (hfq) lifetime of the 1s2p 3P0 state has been calculated for heliumlike 23892U and was found to be 2 orders of magnitude smaller than for the ion with the nucleus in the ground state. The possibility of a precise determination of the nuclear g(r) factor for the rotational 2(+) state by measurements of the hfq lifetime is discussed.