Ab initio calculation of uranium plasma emission coefficients

Ab initio calculations of energy-level, oscillator-strength, and emission distributions have been made for transition arrays involving the ground and 31 excited configurations of singly, doubly, and triply ionized uranium (U II, U III, and U IV). The quantum-mechanical model was based on a modification of the Slater-Condon theory in the single-configuration approximation. Wavefunctions were developed from an approach resembling the Hartree-Fock method with relativistic corrections. Tables of atomic parameters and graphs of weighted oscillator strength vs. wavelength are presented for each ion. There is good shape correlation and order-of-magnitude agreement between the calculated and measured uranium plasma emission coefficients at similar temperature/pressure conditions. This comparison supports the hypothesis that major emission features of spectroscopically complex systems can be predicted or verified with an ab initio approach. (orig.)