Abstract
The soft X-ray emission spectra of the alkali metals have been calculated, using the wavefunctions provided by KKRZ band structure computations. The transitions considered were those involving the p core state of highest energy in Na, K, Rb, and Cs, and the K level of Li. The results confirm that the effects generally attributed to the core hole in Li and Na are not due to the band structure. Except for this discrepancy, the broadened spectra are in reasonable agreement with experiment. The broadening function used was Lorentzian, with an energy-dependent level width increasing to 0.5 eV at the bottom of the band. The variation in transition probability throughout the zone is also discussed.