Theoretical analysis of the electron bridge process in 229Th3+

We investigate the deexcitation of the 229Th nucleus via the excitation of an electron. Detailed calculations are performed for the enhancement of the nuclear decay width due to the so called electron bridge (EB) compared to the direct photoemission from the nucleus. The results are obtained for triply ionized thorium by using a B-spline pseudo basis approach to solve the Dirac equation for a local xα potential. This approach allows for an approximation of the full electron propagator including the positive and negative continuum. We show that the contribution of continua slightly increases the enhancement compared to a propagator calculated by a direct summation over bound states. Moreover we put special emphasis on the interference between the direct and exchange Feynman diagrams that can have a strong influence on the enhancement.