Excitation-autoionization cross sections and rate coefficients for Ga-like ions

Detailed level-by-level calculations of cross sections and rate coefficients for electron impact direct and indirect ionization of ions belonging to the GaI isoelectronic sequence (ground 3d ¹⁰4s ²4p) have been performed. The cross sections are presented in the energy range near the threshold for the five ions Kr⁵⁺, Mo ¹¹⁺, Xe²³⁺, Pr²⁸⁺ and Dy³⁵⁺. The rate coefficients are given for ions from Kr⁵⁺ to U⁶¹⁺ in the GaI sequence at seven electron temperatures (kT _e = 0.1E _I , 0.3E _I , 0.5E _I , 0.7E _I ,E _I , 2E _I and 10E _I , where E _I is the first ionization energy). The calculations include the contribution of direct ionization (DI) calculated using the Lotz formula approximation and the contributions of excitation-autoionization (EA) computed in the framework of the distorted wave (DW) approximation for the 4s-nl, 3d-nl and 3p-nl resonant inner-shell excitations. The ionization enhancement due to the EA channels is presented as a function of Z along the GaI isoelectronic sequence. The present results show the great importance of the EA processes; an ionization enhancement factor of up to 10 is predicted for instance for La²⁶⁺ (Z = 57) at electron temperature of coronal equilibrium maximum abundance.