The study of Th M-X-ray satellites and hypersatellites induced by energetic O and Ne ions

The high-resolution spectra of thorium Mα 1,2 (M 5 N 6,7 ) and Mβ(M 4 N 6 ) X-ray lines induced by O and Ne ions with energies 376 and 178 MeV, respectively, have been measured using a von Hamos crystal spectrometer. The measured spectra exhibit the pronounced X-ray satellite structure due to the multiple ionization in the N- and M-shells. In particular the N-shell satellites are well resolved and the M-shell hypersatellites are clearly observed, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time. The observed M-X-ray diagram transitions and their satellites are interpreted using the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) calculations performed for the multi-vacancy configurations including up to two spectator vacancies. The comparison shows that calculations for more vacancies are needed to reproduce the measured X-ray structure. On the other hand, the data are well interpreted qualitatively using a simplified model of the “average” MCDF satellites having binomially distributed intensities. Further MCDF calculations are in the progress, which ultimately allow to extract precise (∼0.5 eV) information on the electronic structure of the multiple ionized thorium.