Using the code autostructure, extensive calculations of inner-shell atomic data have been made for the chemical elements He, C, N, O, Ne, Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Ar, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe and Ni. The results are used to obtain updated opacities from the Opacity Project (OP). A number of other improvements on earlier work have also been included. Rosseland-mean opacities from the OP are compared with those from OPAL. Differences of 5-10 per cent occur. The OP gives the 'Z-bump', at log(T) 5.2, to be shifted to slightly higher temperatures. The opacities from the OP, as functions of temperature and density, are smoother than those from OPAL. The accuracy of the integrations used to obtain mean opacities can depend on the frequency mesh used. Tests involving variation of the numbers of frequency points show that for typical chemical mixtures the OP integrations are numerically correct to within 0.1 per cent. The accuracy of the interpolations used to obtain mean opacities for any required values of temperature and density depends on the temperature-density meshes used. Extensive tests show that, for all cases of practical interest, the OP interpolations give results correct to better than 1 per cent. Prior to a number of recent investigations which have indicated a need for downward revisions in the solar abundances of oxygen and other elements, there was good agreement between properties of the Sun deduced from helioseismology and from stellar evolution models calculated using OPAL opacities. The revisions destroy that agreement. In a recent paper, Bahcall et al. argue that the agreement would be restored if opacities for the regions of the Sun with 2 × 106T 5 × 106 K (0.7-0.4 R) were larger than those given by OPAL by about 10 per cent. In the region concerned, the present results from the OP do not differ from those of OPAL by more than 2.5 per cent

We calculate the efficiency of iron K line emission and iron K absorption in photoionized models using a new set of atomic data. These data are more comprehensive than those previously applied to the modeling of iron K lines from photoionized gases, and allow us to systematically examine the behavior of the properties of line emission and absorption as a function of the ionization parameter, density and column density of model constant density clouds. We show that, for example, the net fluorescence yield for the highly charged ions is sensitive to the level population distribution produced by photoionization, and these yields are generally smaller than those predicted assuming the population is according to statistical weight. We demonstrate that the effects of the many strongly damped resonances below the K ionization thresholds conspire to smear the edge, thereby potentially affecting the astrophysical interpretation of absorption features in the 7-9 keV energy band. We show that the centroid of the ensemble of K$\alpha$ lines, the K$\beta$ energy, and the ratio of the K$\alpha_1$ to K$\alpha_2$ components are all diagnostics of the ionization parameter of our model slabsComment: 38 pages, submitted to Ap.J. Sup

The spectrum from the black hole X-ray transient GRO J1655-40. obtained using the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) in 2005 is notable as a laboratory for the study of warm absorbers, and for the presence of many lines from odd-Z elements between Na and Co (and Ti and Cr) not previously observed in X-rays. We present synthetic spectral models which can be used to constrain these element abundances and other parameters describing the outflow from the warm absorber in this object. We present results of fitting to the spectrum using various tools and techniques, including automated line fitting, phenomenological models, and photoionization modeling. We show that the behavior of the curves of growth of lines from H-like and Li-like ions indicate that the lines are either saturated or affected by filling-in from scattered or a partially covered continuum source. We confirm the conclusion of previous work by Miller et al. (2006) andMiller et al. (2008) which shows that the ionization conditions are not consistent with wind driving due to thermal expansion. The spectrum provides the opportunity to measure abundances for several elements not typically observable in the X-ray band. These show a pattern of enhancement for iron peak elements, and solar or sub-solar values for elements lighter than calcium. Models show that this is consistent with enrichment by a core-collapse supernova. We discuss the implications of these values for the evolutionary history of this system.

Extensive calculations of the atomic data required for the spectral modeling of the K-shell photoabsorption of oxygen ions have been carried out in a multicode approach. The present level energies and wavelengths for the highly ionized species (electron occupancies 2 N 4) are accurate to within 0.5 eVand 0.02 8, respectively. For N > 4, lack of measurements, wide experimental scatter, and discrepancies among theoretical values are handicaps in reliable accuracy assessments. The radiative and Auger rates are expected to be accurate to 10% and 20%, respectively, except for transitions involving strongly mixed levels. Radiative and Auger dampings have been taken into account in the calculation of photoabsorption cross sections in the K-threshold region, leading to overlapping Lorentzian shaped resonances of constant widths that cause edge smearing. The behavior of the improved opacities in this region has been studied with the XSTAR modeling code using simple constant density slab models and is displayed for a range of ionization parameters.