L-SHELL AUGER AND COSTER-KRONIG SPECTRA FROM RELATIVISTIC THEORY

The intensities of L-shell Auger and Coster-Kronig transitions in heavy atoms have been calculated relativistically. A detailed comparison is made with measured Auger spectra of Pt and U. The pertinent transition energies were computed from relativistic wave functions with inclusion of the Breit interaction, self-energy, a vacuum-polarization correction, and complete atomic relaxation. Multiplet splitting is found to distribute Auger electrons from certain transitions among several lines. The analysis leads to reassignment of a number of lines in the measured spectra. Lines originally identified as L2-L3Ni in the U spectrum are shown to arise from M4,5 Auger transitions instead. The effect of relativity on L3-MM Auger-transition intensity ratios is studied; in some cases, these ratios are found to be affected by as much as 50% by the inclusion of relativity, while in others the ratios change little. This variation in response can be traced to the different factors through which relativity influences radiationless transition probabilities. © 1979 The American Physical Society.