New Measurement Resolves Key Astrophysical Fe XVII Oscillator Strength Problem

Kühn, Steffen; Cheung, Charles; Oreshkina, Natalia S.; Steinbrügge, René; Togawa, Moto; Bernitt, Sonja; Berger, Lukas; Buck, Jens; Hoesch, Moritz; Seltmann, Jörn; Trinter, Florian; Keitel, Christoph H.; Kozlov, Mikhail G.; Porsev, Sergey G.; Gu, Ming Feng; Porter, F. Scott; Pfeifer, Thomas; Leutenegger, Maurice A.; Harman, Zoltán; Safronova, Marianna S.; Crespo López-Urrutia, José Ramón; Shah, Chintan

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.245001

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New Measurement Resolves Key Astrophysical Fe XVII Oscillator Strength Problem

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Kühn, Steffen
Division Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeifer, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;
Heidelberg Graduate School of Fundamental Physics, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany;

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Oreshkina, Natalia S.
Division Prof. Dr. Christoph H. Keitel, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society,;

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Togawa, Moto
Division Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeifer, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

Bernitt, Sonja
Division Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeifer, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;
Institut für Optik und Quantenelektronik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany;
Helmholtz-Institut Jena, Fröbelstieg 3, 07743 Jena, Germany;
GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany;

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Berger, Lukas
Holger Kreckel - MPG group subsequent to ERC Starting Grant, Junior Research Groups, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

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Keitel, Christoph H.
Division Prof. Dr. Christoph H. Keitel, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society,;

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Pfeifer, Thomas
Division Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeifer, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

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Harman, Zoltán
Division Prof. Dr. Christoph H. Keitel, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society,;

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Crespo López-Urrutia, José Ramón
Division Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeifer, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

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Shah, Chintan
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA;
Division Prof. Dr. Thomas Pfeifer, MPI for Nuclear Physics, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.245001
(Supplementary material)

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v15/187
(Supplementary material)

https://idw-online.de/de/news806052
(Supplementary material)

https://www.focus.de/wissen/natur/raetsel-im-roentgenspektrum-geloest_id_180438136.html
(Supplementary material)

https://www.pro-physik.de/nachrichten/kosmisches-roentgen-raetsel-geloest
(Supplementary material)

https://www.mpg.de/19612255/1206-kern-roentgenanalyse-ohne-zweifel-153865-x
(Supplementary material)

https://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/mpi/en/public-relations/news/news-item/x-ray-analysis-without-doubt
(Supplementary material)

https://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/mpi/de/nachrichten/nachricht/roentgenanalyse-ohne-zweifel
(Supplementary material)

https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.1.20230202a/full/
(Supplementary material)

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Citation

Kühn, S., Cheung, C., Oreshkina, N. S., Steinbrügge, R., Togawa, M., Bernitt, S., et al. (2022). New Measurement Resolves Key Astrophysical Fe XVII Oscillator Strength Problem. Physical Review Letters, 129(24): 245001. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.245001.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000C-07F4-9

Abstract

One of the most enduring and intensively studied problems of X-ray astronomy
is the disagreement of state-of-the art theory and observations for the
intensity ratio of two Fe XVII transitions of crucial value for plasma
diagnostics, dubbed 3C and 3D. We unravel this conundrum at the PETRA III
synchrotron facility by increasing the resolving power two and a half times and
the signal-to-noise ratio thousand-fold compared to our previous work. The
Lorentzian wings had hitherto been indistinguishable from the background and
were thus not modeled, resulting in a biased line-strength estimation. The
present experimental oscillator-strength ratio
$R_\mathrm{exp}=f_{\mathrm{3C}}/f_{\mathrm{3D}}=3.51(2)_{\mathrm{stat}}(7)_{\mathrm{sys}}$
agrees with our state-of-the-art calculation of $R_\mathrm{th}=3.55(2)$, as
well as with some previous theoretical predictions. To further rule out any
uncertainties associated with the measured ratio, we also determined the
individual natural linewidths and oscillator strengths of 3C and 3D
transitions, which also agree well with the theory. This finally resolves the
decades-old mystery of Fe XVII oscillator strengths.