Multipolar theory of black-body radiation shift of atomic energy levels and its implications for optical lattice clocks

A black-body radiation (BBR) shifts of (nsnp ^3P_0) - (ns^2 ^1S_0) clock transition in divalent atoms Mg, Ca, Sr, and Yb are evaluated. A theory of multipolar BBR shifts is developed and its implications are discussed. At room temperatures, the resulting uncertainties in the BBR shifts are relatively large and substantially affect the projected 10^{-18} fractional accuracy of the optical-lattice-based clocks.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Study of quadrupole polarizabilities with combined configuration interaction and coupled-cluster method

The recently developed method combining the configuration interaction and the coupled-cluster method was demonstrated to provide accurate treatment of correlation corrections in divalent atomic systems [M.S.Safronova, M.G.Kozlov, and C.W.Clark, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 143006 (2011)]. We have extended this approach to the calculation of quadrupole polarizabilities alpha_2 and applied it to evaluate alpha_2 for the ground state of Mg and Mg-like Si^{2+}. Performing the calculations in three different approximations of increasing accuracy allowed us to place the upper bounds on the uncertainty of the final results. The recommended values alpha_2(3s^2 1S0)= 35.86(13) a.u. for Si^{2+} and alpha_2(3s^2 1S0)= 814(3) a.u. for Mg are estimated to be accurate to 0.37%. Differences in quadrupole polarizability contributions in neutral Mg and Si^{2+} ion are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Enhanced sensitivity to the fine-structure constant variation in Th IV atomic clock transition

Our calculations have shown that the 5f_5/2-7s_1/2 23131 cm^{-1} transition from the ground state in the ion Th^{3+} is very sensitive to the temporal variation of the fine structure constant alpha (q=-75300 cm^{-1}). The line is very narrow, the ion has been trapped and laser cooled and the positive shifter line 5f_5/2-5f_7/2 4325 cm^{-1} (q=+2900 cm^{-1}) may be used as a reference. A comparison may also be made with a positive shifter in another atom or ion. This makes Th^{3+} a good candidate to search for the alpha variation

Comment on "21-cm Radiation: A New Probe of Variation in the Fine-Structure Constant"

Khatri and Wandelt reported that change in the value of alpha by 1% changes the mean brightness temperature $T_b$ decrement of the CMB due to 21 cm absorption by 5% over the redshift range z $<$ 50. A drawback of their approach is that the dimensionful parameters are used. Changing of units leads to the change of the magnitude and even sign of the effect. Similar problems may be identified in a large number of other publications which consider limits on the variation of alpha using dimentionful parameters. We propose a method to obtain consistent results and provide an estimate of the effect.Comment: Added In v2: discussion of the effect of the variation of the fundamental constants on extracted numerical value of the barion-to-photon rati

"Dressing" lines and vertices in calculations of matrix elements with the coupled-cluster method and determination of Cs atomic properties

We consider evaluation of matrix elements with the coupled-cluster method. Such calculations formally involve infinite number of terms and we devise a method of partial summation (dressing) of the resulting series. Our formalism is built upon an expansion of the product $C^\dagger C$ of cluster amplitudes $C$ into a sum of $n$-body insertions. We consider two types of insertions: particle/hole line insertion and two-particle/two-hole random-phase-approximation-like insertion. We demonstrate how to ``dress'' these insertions and formulate iterative equations. We illustrate the dressing equations in the case when the cluster operator is truncated at single and double excitations. Using univalent systems as an example, we upgrade coupled-cluster diagrams for matrix elements with the dressed insertions and highlight a relation to pertinent fourth-order diagrams. We illustrate our formalism with relativistic calculations of hyperfine constant $A(6s)$ and $6s_{1/2}-6p_{1/2}$ electric-dipole transition amplitude for Cs atom. Finally, we augment the truncated coupled-cluster calculations with otherwise omitted fourth-order diagrams. The resulting analysis for Cs is complete through the fourth-order of many-body perturbation theory and reveals an important role of triple and disconnected quadruple excitations.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.