Mean Lifetimes of ns, np, nd, & nf Levels of N V

Abstract

Nitrogen is one of the key elements in the evolution and formation of stellar objects. Earth's atmosphere contains 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen; these two gases give rise to aurora when ions of the solar wind in the ionosphere collide with them. Some aerosols made of nitrogen and oxygen are also found in the atmosphere. Nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen are the main contributors to the origin of life on Earth. The spectrum of nitrogen ion (N V) has been studied using Quantum defect theory (QDT) and Numerical Coulombic approximation (NCA). N V has two electrons in the core, with the nucleus, and one electron outside the core. It makes it hydrogen or lithium-like. In the first part, the energies of the ns, np, nd, and nf up to n < 30 were calculated with the help of QDT. In the second part, the wavelengths were calculated using the energies and line strength parameters using NCA. Very little experimental data on lifetime and transition probability are available; however, Biemont et al. have calculated the lifetime of the 48 levels of N V using coulomb approximation. In this study, we calculated the lifetime of 196 multiplets of N V. The results are compared with the available experimental and theoretical lifetimes; an excellent agreement was found between known lifetimes and calculated in this work. The lifetimes of 100 multiplets are presented for the first time. The lifetimes of each of the Rydberg series of N V were fitted, and a third-degree polynomial represents the lifetimes of each series.

Keywords

• nitrogen ion (n v)
• lifetimes
• quantum defect theory
• numerical coulomb approximation
• lithium-like ions