Weak correlation and strong relativistic effects on the hyperfine interaction in fluorine

• In previous work devoted to ab initio calculations of hyperfine-structure constants in nitrogen and fluorine atoms, we observed sizable relativistic effects, a priori unexpected for such light systems, that can even largely dominate over electron correlation. We observed that the atomic wave functions calculated in the Breit-Pauli approximation describe adequately the relevant atomic levels and hyperfine structures, even in cases for which a small relativistic LS-term mixing becomes crucial. In the present work we identify levels belonging to the spectroscopic terms 2p(4)(P-3)3d(2,4)(P, D, F) of the fluorine atom, for which correlation effects on the hyperfine structures are small, but relativistic LS-term admixtures are decisive to correctly reproduce the experimental values. The Breit-Pauli analysis of the hyperfine matrix elements nails cases with large cancellation, either between LS pairs for individual hyperfine operators or between the orbital and the spin dipole contributions. Multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock calculations are performed to support the Breit-Pauli analysis.

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Atom- och molekylfysik och optik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics (hsv//eng)

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