Tc IV, Tc V and Tc VI oscillator strengths

In principle, Tc should still be present in the atmospheres of hot post-AGB stars and (pre-) white dwarfs although, due to radioactive decay, it should be present in decreasing quantities along post-AGB evolution. The recent discovery of a large number of trans-iron group elements in hot white dwarfs with atomic numbers in the range A=30-56 (Zn to Ba) raises the prospect that Tc (A=43) may also be detected.

However, this is currently not feasible because no atomic data exist for ionization stages beyond TcII. As an initial step, we calculated atomic energy levels and oscillator strengths of Tc IV-VI and used these data to compute non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) model atmospheres to estimate at which minimum abundance level Tc could be detected. We show that Tc lines can be found in ultraviolet spectra of hot white dwarfs provided Tc is as abundant as other detected trans-Fe elements.