Many-body calculations of electric-dipole amplitudes for transitions between low-lying levels of Mg, Ca, and Sr - art. no. 012508

To support efforts on cooling and trapping of alkaline-earth-metal atoms an d designs of atomic clocks, we performed ab initio relativistic many-body c alculations of electric-dipole transition amplitudes between low-lying stat es of Mg, Ca, and Sr. In particular, we report amplitudes for P-1(1)0--> S- 1(0), S-3(1), D-1(2), for P-3(1)0 --> S-1(0), D-1(2), and for P-3(2)0--> D- 1(2) transitions. For Ca, the reduced matrix element < 4s4p(1)P(1)(0)parall el toD parallel to 4s(2) S-1(0)> is in good agreement with a high-precision experimental value deduced from photoassociation spectroscopy [Zinner et n l., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2292 (2000)]. An estimated uncertainty of the calc ulated lifetime of the 3s3p(1)P(1)(0) state of Mg is a factor of 3 smaller than that of the most accurate experiment. Calculated binding energies repr oduce experimental values within 0.1-0.2%.