The Iron Project \& Iron Opacity Project: Updates on Photoionization, Electron-Ion Recombination of Fe XVII and Ca XV

We have carried out converged close coupling (CCC) calculations for photoionization of Ne-like Fe~XVII and demonstrate orders-of-magnitude enhancements in cross section due to successive core excitations. Convergence criteria are: (i) inclusion of sufficient number of residual ion Fe~XVIII core states and (ii) high-resolution of myriad autoionizing resonances. We discuss verification of the conventional oscillator strength sum-rule in limited energy regions for bound-free plasma opacity. We will also report preliminary results from a larger R-matrix calculations of photoionization cross sections and electron-ion recombination rates of Ca~XV where Rydberg series of resonances are included for core excitations to 28 states of n=2,3 complexes in contrast to previous 7 states of n=2 complex. The new results show existence of high-peak resonances of n=3 complex and enhanced background in high energy photoionization and a corresponding enhancement in the recombination in the high temperature region.\\ * Partial support: NSF, DOE,Ohio Supercomputer Center