We report a new test of quantum electrodynamics (QED) for the w (1s2p 1 P1 → 1s 2 1 S0) X-ray resonance line transition energy in helium-like titanium. This measurement is one of few sensitive to two-electron QED contributions. Systematic errors such as Doppler shifts are minimised in our experiment by trapping and stripping Ti atoms in an Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) and by applying absolute wavelength standards to calibrate the dispersion function of a curved-crystal spectrometer. We also report a more general systematic discrepancy between QED theory and experiment for the w transition energy in helium-like ions for Z > 20. When all of the data available in the literature forZ = 16 − 92 is taken into account, the divergence is seen to grow as approximately Z 3 with a statistical significance on the coefficient that rises to the level of five standard deviations. Our result for titanium alone, 4749.85(7) eV for the w-line, deviates from the most recent ab initio prediction by three times our experimental uncertainty and by more than ten times the currently estimated uncertainty in the theoretical prediction.PACS numbers: 31.30.jf, 12.20.Fv, 34.50.Fa, 32.30.Rj Quantum electrodynamics (QED) is a cornerstone of modern theoretical physics. New activity on this topic has been stimulated by the announcement of a five-sigma inconsistency between a 15 ppm (parts per million) measurement of an atomic transition frequency in muonic hydrogen [1] and independent measurements of the proton size, linked together by QED calculations. The high sensitivity of such a measurement to QED is derived in part from the large mass of the bound lepton which shrinks the orbital radius. Another way to reduce the orbital radius and study magnified QED effects is to measure transitions in highly charged ions of increasing Z. QED processes scale as various powers of Zα and significantly affect the quantum observable, namely transition energies. Moreover, in the high-Z range, some of the perturbative expansions fail, so that theoretical methods very different from those used for hydrogen are required. Since QED treatment of low-Z and high-Z systems are undertaken with significantly different starting points and mathematical techniques, precise measurements for ions in the mid-Z range will guide the long-pursued development of a unified computational methodology with very accurate predictions for the entire domain Z < 100 [2,3].Advances in QED theory have been sufficient that one can go beyond one-lepton systems (either free or bound) and explore the three-body quantum problem to high precision, including the investigation of helium-like * Electronic address: chantler@unimelb.edu.au atomic systems with two electrons bound to a nucleus. Here the two-electron QED contributions that are entirely absent in one-electron systems can be probed and compared to various theoretical formulations. In this work, we report a measurement of the strongest resonant transition 1s2p1 P 1 → 1s 2 1 S 0 in He-like Ti (Ti 20+ ), and present a divergence that is...

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Methods for the quantification of statistically valid measures of the uncertainties associated with X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) data obtained from dilute solutions using fluorescence measurements are developed. Experimental data obtained from 10 mM solutions of the organometallic compound ferrocene, Fe(C(5)H(5))(2), are analysed within this framework and, following correction for various electronic and geometrical factors, give robust estimates of the standard errors of the individual measurements. The reliability of the refinement statistics of standard current XAFS structure approaches that do not include propagation of experimental uncertainties to assess subtle structural distortions is assessed in terms of refinements obtained for the staggered and eclipsed conformations of the C(5)H(5) rings of ferrocene. Standard approaches (XFIT, IFEFFIT) give refinement statistics that appear to show strong, but opposite, preferences for the different conformations. Incorporation of experimental uncertainties into an IFEFFIT-like analysis yield refinement statistics for the staggered and eclipsed forms of ferrocene which show a far more realistic preference for the eclipsed form which accurately reflects the reliability of the analysis. Moreover, the more strongly founded estimates of the refined parameter uncertainties allow more direct comparison with those obtained by other techniques. These XAFS-based estimates of the bond distances have accuracies comparable with those obtained using single-crystal diffraction techniques and are superior in terms of their use in comparisons of experimental and computed structures.

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Transition metals have Kα and Kβ characteristic radiation possessing complex asymmetric spectral profiles. Instrumental broadening normally encountered in x-ray experiments shifts features of profiles used for calibration, such as peak energy, by many times the quoted accuracies. We measure and characterize the titanium Kβ spectral profile. The peak energy of the titanium Kβ spectral profile is found to be 4931.966 ± 0.022 eV prior to instrumental broadening. This 4.5 ppm result decreases the uncertainty over the past literature by a factor of 2.6 and is 2.4 standard deviations from the previous standard. The spectrum is analysed and the resolution-free lineshape is extracted and listed for use in other experiments. We also incorporate improvement in analysis applied to earlier results for V Kβ.