Parity-violation effects on the Auger-electron emission from highly charged atomic ions

Within the framework of standard electroweak gauge theory, parity-violation effects on the Auger emission from atomic ions are examined. Highly charged ions are prime candidates due to their simple atomic structure and large electroweak charge. To be specific, the Auger decay of the 2s² J=0 level in U⁹⁰⁺ is analyzed. In QED, the polarization-asymmetry parameter is identically zero. It is found that neutral-current mixing of the 2s² J=0 and 2s2p J=0 levels yields a polarization asymmetry of 10^-7.