Test of Many-Electron QED Effects in the Hyperfine Splitting of Heavy High-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>Z</mml:mi></mml:math>Ions

Abstract

A rigorous evaluation of the two-photon exchange corrections to the hyperfine structure in lithiumlike heavy ions is presented. As a result, the theoretical accuracy of the specific difference between the hyperfine splitting values of H- and Li-like Bi ions is significantly improved. This opens a possibility for the stringent test of the many-electron QED effects on a few percent level in the strongest electromagnetic field presently available in experiments.