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arXiv · 2003.13838

High-Precision Determination of Oxygen-K$\alpha$ Transition Energy Excludes Incongruent Motion of Interstellar Oxygen

M. A. Leutenegger·S. Kühn·P. Micke·R. Steinbrügge·J. Stierhof·C. Shah·N. Hell·M. Bissinger·M. Hirsch·R. Ballhausen·M. Lang·C. Gräfe·S. Wipf·R. Cumbee·G. L. Betancourt-Martinez·S. Park·V. A. Yerokhin·A. Surzhykov·W. C. Stolte·J. Niskanen·M. Chung·F. S. Porter·T. Stöhlker·T. Pfeifer·J. Wilms·G. V. Brown·J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia·S. Bernitt
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Abstract

We demonstrate a widely applicable technique to absolutely calibrate the energy scale of x-ray spectra with experimentally well-known and accurately calculable transitions of highly charged ions, allowing us to measure the K-shell Rydberg spectrum of molecular O$_2$ with 8 meV uncertainty. We reveal a systematic $\sim$450 meV shift from previous literature values, and settle an extraordinary discrepancy between astrophysical and laboratory measurements of neutral atomic oxygen, the latter being calibrated against the aforementioned O$_2$ literature values. Because of the widespread use of such, now deprecated, references, our method impacts on many branches of x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Moreover, it potentially reduces absolute uncertainties there to below the meV level.

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M. A. Leutenegger, S. Kühn, P. Micke, R. Steinbrügge, J. Stierhof, C. Shah, N. Hell, M. Bissinger, M. Hirsch, R. Ballhausen, M. Lang, C. Gräfe, S. Wipf, R. Cumbee, G. L. Betancourt-Martinez, S. Park, V. A. Yerokhin, A. Surzhykov, W. C. Stolte, J. Niskanen, M. Chung, F. S. Porter, T. Stöhlker, T. Pfeifer, J. Wilms, G. V. Brown, J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia, S. Bernitt. 2020-03-30. High-Precision Determination of Oxygen-K$\alpha$ Transition Energy Excludes Incongruent Motion of Interstellar Oxygen. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.243001

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