Effect of L-shell Spectator Vacancies on the Competition of Filling the K, L1 and L23 Vacancies and the Natural Widths of K-shell Hole States of Argon Ions

The radiative and Auger decay of K-shell hole states of argon ions with configuration 1s2sm2pn3 s23p6 (m=0-2; n = 0-6) are studied theoretically using the flexible atomic code. The effect of L-shell spectator vacancies on the competition of filling the K, L1, and L23 vacancies is discussed for the first time. We find the K or L1 vacancy is preferred to be filled first when there is 0 or 1 vacancy in the L23 shell, but the L23 vacancy becomes the priority when the number of the L23 vacancies is larger than 2, and the total branching ratio of the L23 vacancy is as high as 66.98%, 74.66%, and 80.95% when the L23 shell has 4 vacancies and there are 2, 1 and 0 vacancies in the L1 shell, respectively. In addition, the natural widths of the K, L1, and L23 vacancies with different L-shell vacancy distributions are also calculated. The results show that they all first increase and then decrease with the number of L23 vacancies. It is expected that the present study will be useful for the qualitative analysis of the decay processes of multiple hole states, the understanding of ion yields and the production of satellites in x-ray and Auger spectra.