Electron impact excitation of Astrophysically Important C III Ion
Abstract
Emission lines of many Be-like ions, including C~III, have been observed in the solar and stellar plasmas and are useful for density and temperature diagnostics. C~III is also important for studies of fusion plasmas. For modelling and diagnostics, atomic data for energy levels, radiative rates (A-values) and excitation rates (equivalently effective collision strengths) are required. Therefore, we have adopted the GRASP code to calculate energy levels, A-values (for E1, E2, M1 and M2 transitions) and lifetimes among 166 levels of the n <= 5 configurations. Energy levels are assessed to be accurate to better than 1% for most levels, and A-values to better than 20% for most transitions. For A-values and lifetimes there are no large discrepancies between theory and measurement. For collision strengths DARC is adopted, resonances are resolved in a fine energy mesh and are averaged over a Maxwellian velocity distribution to determine effective collision strengths up to a temperature of 800,000 K. Unfortunately, a comparison with the similar R-matrix calculations of Fernandez-Menchero et al [A&A 566 (2014) A104] shows differences up to over an order of magnitude for about 20% transitions (among the lowest 78 levels) over the complete temperature range of the results. In most cases their results are larger, up to a factor of 20, and the differences are similar and comparable to those already noted for other Be-like ions, namely Al~X, Cl~XIV, K~XVI, Ti~XIX and Ge~XXIX - see Aggarwal & Keenan [MNRAS 447 (2015) 3849]. Based on several comparisons and considering the wide range of partial waves included (up to 40.5) and the energy range adopted for collision strengths (up to 21 Ryd), our results are estimated to be accurate to better than 20% for a majority of transitions, allowed and forbidden. Detailed comparisons for all parameters for C~III and possible reasons for discrepancies will be presented during the conference and will also be soon available in MNRAS.
- Publication:
-
IAU General Assembly
- Pub Date:
- August 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015IAUGA..2253165A