Atomic Excitation and Ionization Accompanying Orbital Electron Capture by Nuclei

The process of atomic excitation and ionization accompanying orbital electron capture by nuclei is treated on the basis of the general theory of β-decay using a configuration space representation for both nucleons and leptons. Quantitative expressions are obtained (a) for the total number of double holes produced in the K-shell due to K-capture accompanied by excitation or ejection of the other K-electron [Eq. (15)], and (b) for the total probability of electron ejection in orbital electron capture together with the ejected electron momentum spectrum [Eqs. (17)-(18)]. A discussion is given of the possibilities of experimental verification of the theory developed.