Relativistic effects in outer shells of heavy atoms

Abstract

The relativistic contraction of inner-shell orbitals affects outer shells through the self-consistency requirement of the atomic field. The self-consistent field relativistic effects increase the binding energies of the 6s electrons of Au and Hg by about 30%, whereas those for the 4f and 5d electrons are decreased by about 15% compared to the non-relativistic results. The oscillator strengths for the resonance transitions (6S to 6P) of Au and Hg are reduced by about 30% as a consequence of the self-consistent field relativistic effects.