Investigating mechanisms of state localization in highly ionized dense plasmas

We present experimental observations of ${\mathrm{K}}_{\ensuremath{\beta}}$ emission from highly charged Mg ions at solid density, driven by intense x rays a free electron laser. The presence indicates the $n=3$ atomic shell is relocalized for high charge states, providing an upper constraint on depression ionization potential. explore process state relocalization in dense plasmas first principles using finite-temperature density functional theory alongside wave-function localization metric, and find excellent agreement with results.