Continuum wave functions for estimating the electric dipole moment: Calculation based on a multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock approximation

Abstract

The multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock method is employed to calculate the continuum electron wave functions, which are then used to estimate their contribution to the atomic electric dipole moment (EDM) of $^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$. The EDM arises from $(P,T)$-odd electron-nucleon tensor-pseudotensor and pseudoscalar-scalar interactions, the nuclear Schiff moment, the interaction of the electron electric dipole moment with nuclear magnetic moments, and atomic electric dipole matrix elements. In addition to being estimated in the continuum states, all of these interactions are also estimated in the ground state, as well as in the Rydberg states of $^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$. Calculations of one-electron atomic orbitals include the interelectronic interactions, through valence and core-valence electron correlation effects. The contribution to the EDM from continuum states is found to be of the same order of magnitude as the contribution from discrete states.