Autoionizing Rydberg seriesncp1/25nℓ'[K']J(ℓ' = 0-5) of Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe: general trends for the resonance widths

With the aim of elucidating general trends for the autoionizing decay of the Rydberg series Rg ( n c p 1/2 5 n ℓ'[ K ' = ℓ'±1/2] J ) (Rg = Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe; n c = 2-5), converging to the fine-structure-excited ionization limit Rg + ( n c p 1/2 5 2 P 1/2 ), we have carried out calculations of the resonance widths for all ℓ'[ K '] J series with ℓ' = 0-5 within the single-electron Pauli-Fock approach. The ℓ'-dependence of the reduced widths Γ r = n *3 Γ n ( n * = n -µ ℓ ), which is independent of n at large n , is obtained, and the dominant decay paths are characterized. Based on these findings, expressions for a `generalized' reduced width Γ gr are presented for the ℓ'[ℓ'±1/2] J resonance series in which the main dependence on ℓ' is removed and which provide estimates of the autoionization widths towards higher ℓ'. The calculated reduced resonance widths are compared with experimental results.