The Radiative Decay of Inner Shell Vacancies

The radiative decay of inner shells (x-rays) was until recently mainly observed in many electron atoms in which holes were created in the K or L shells. Owing to the great many number of interacting particles the exact description of these complex systems is not easy and in many cases the theoretical treatment of the states and of their decay is still very rough. In the last decade heavy highly stripped ions began to be produced and a more cleaner physics appeared to be possible. We will then in these lectures describe the one or two electron ions radiative decay for which exact or very accurate theoretical calculations can be performed and extend the theory to more complicated systems (one and two hole states). A special emphasis will be given to the “irreducible” causes of multiionization which make the x-ray physics in many electron atoms so complicated.