Multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock calculations for singlet terms in neutral strontium

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Abstract
Multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock (MCHF) calculations are presented for singlet terms in neutral strontium (Sr i) belonging to (perturbed) sp, sd, and sf Rydberg series. We discuss briefly some particularly difficult MCHF calculations and the steps taken to overcome the difficulties. The ab initio wave functions are used to calculate radiative lifetimes as well as individual transition rates for electric dipole and quadrupole radiation. The calculated lifetimes are compared to recent experimental results. The observed trends are well reproduced by the calculations. We compare our wave functions with wave functions obtained from multichannel quantum-defect theory (MQDT) in either of two different ways. One is based on semiempirical fitting to the observed energy levels and the other on a recent ab initio R-matrix calculation of MQDT parameters. We find good agreement with the wave functions obtained in the latter calculation, confirming earlier conjectures about the degree of reliability of semiempirical MQDT fits to perturbed Rydberg series [C. Froese Fischer and J. E. Hansen, Phys. Rev. A 24, 631 (1981)].