SUM-RULES FOR COLLISIONAL PROCESSES

We derive level-to-configuration sum rules for dielectronic capture and for collisional excitation and ionization. These sum rules give the total transition rate from a detailed atomic level to an atomic configuration. For each process, we show that it is possible to factor out the dependence on continuum-electron wave functions. The remaining explicit level dependence of each rate is then obtained from the matrix element of an effective operator acting on the bound orbitals only. In a large class of cases, the effective operator reduces to a one-electron monopole whose matrix element is proportional to the statistical weight of the level. We show that even in these cases, nonstatistical level dependence enters through the dependence of radial integrals on continuum orbitals. For each process, explicit analytic expressions for the level-to-configuration sum rules are given for all possible cases. Together with the well-known J-file sum rule for radiative rates [E. U. Condon and G. H. Shortley, The Theory of Atomic Spectra (University Press, Cambridge, 1935)], the sum rules offer a systematic and efficient procedure for collapsing high-multiplicity configurations into ''effective'' levels for the purpose of modeling the population kinetics of ionized heavy atoms in plasma.