Electron-impact excitation of Si using the Dirac B-Spline atomic R-Matrix code*

Silicon is one of the most abundant elements in the Interstellar Medium and knowledge of rates describing collisions with electrons and other species play an important role in understanding the astrophysical environments in which it is observed [1]. However, there is very limited data available regarding electron collisions with Si, and most datasets are generated by non-relativistic descriptions of Si [2]. In this work, we seek to determine electron-impact excitation cross sections of Si using the Dirac B-Spline atomic R-Matrix suite of codes [3,4], allowing us to generate fine-structure-resolved collision data. Relevant Si atomic structure data, which can be used as input for DBSR calculations, will be made available on the AMOSGateway [5], where interested parties can perform their own cross-section calculations.

 

[1] P. G. Yan and J. F. Babb, MNRAS 522 (2023) 1265–1269

[2] V. Gedeon et al., Phys. Rev. A 85 (2012) 022711

[3] O. Zatsarinny and K. Bartschat, Phys. Rev. A 77 (2008) 062701

[4] O. Zatsarinny, https://github.com/zatsaroi

[5] https://amosgateway.org/