Two-photon decay of K-shell vacancy states in heavy atoms

Two-photon decay has been extensively studied in atomic, nuclear and particle physics since the 1930s when the problem of stability of the 2s state of the hydrogen atom emerged. Since then, many theoretical and experimental investigations have been made on hydrogen and one-electron (H-like) ions and on helium and two-electron (He-like) ions. The work on two-photon decay in many-electron systems involving inner shells started about 30 years ago...