RelativisticM-shell radiationless transitions

The first relativistic calculations of radiationless transition probabilities for the filling of vacancies in atomic $M$ shells are reported. For eight elements with atomic numbers $70\le Z\le 100$, radiationless $M_4$- and $M_5$-subshell transition rates, $M$-subshell fluorescence and Coster-Kronig yields, and $L{\alpha }_{1,2}$ and $L{\beta }_1$ x-ray linewidths were computed with Dirac-Hartree-Slater wave functions using the Møller two-electron operator. The inclusion of relativity is found to affect strong Auger transitions by 10-20%, and weak transitions by as much as a factor of 2, mostly because of the difference between relativistic and nonrelativistic wave functions. The new theoretical results agree substantially better with experimental data than the results of older, nonrelativistic calculations.