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The role of final state correlation in double ionization of helium: a master equation approach

The process of nonsequential two-photon double ionization of helium is studied by two complementary numerical approaches. First, the time-dependent Schr{ö}dinger equation is solved and the final wave function is analyzed in terms of projection onto eigenstates of the uncorrelated Hamiltonian, i.e., with no electron-electron interaction included in the final states. Then, the double ionization probability is found by means of a recently developed approach in which the concept of absorbing boundaries has been generalized to apply to systems consisting of more than one particle. This generalization is achieved through the Lindblad equation. A model of reduced dimensionality, which describes the process at a qualitative level, has been used. The agreement between the methods provides a strong indication that procedures using projections onto uncorrelated continuum states are adequate when extracting total cross sections for the direct double ionization process.