Determinations of atomic lifetimes for the rare earth ions: Prii,Tmii, Luii,Ceiii

Radiative lifetimes have been determined by the beam-foil method for some excited states in the singly ionized rare earths Pr ii, Tm ii, and Lu ii, in order to test the reliability of the transition probabilities and oscillator strengths found by Corliss and Bozman and usually applied for solar abundance determinations. Correction factors of 4.5, 2.5, and 0.3 should be applied to Corliss and Bozman's values for Pr ii, Tm ii, and Lu ii, respectively. These corrections eliminate the discrepancies between the abundance in the solar photosphere and in meteorites for Pr and Tm. Radiative lifetimes for Ce iii are also reported.