Auger decay of hollow nitrogen atoms

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Abstract
We present calculations of autoionization lifetimes for 'hollow' nitrogen atoms with and without a core of one or two 1s electrons. We have observed a very similar pattern in the N dependence of the lifetimes for all 1sMnpN configurations with M=0, 1 and 2, n=2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 and N=2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Also some 1snlN configurations with l not=1 have been considered as well as configurations with mixed values of n. For configurations with all the electrons in the same n shell we have found that the average lifetime in neutral systems is very short, typically of the order of 3-5*10-16 s for n=3 to 7. The same applies to configurations with mixed values of n (of the order of 1-6*10-15 s for n=3 to 7). We find that the importance of electron correlation increases dramatically with n and N but that the average autoionization decay rates do not change. The configurations studied are of interest, for example, in the study of processes that occur during neutralization of highly charged nitrogen ions at surfaces.