A systematic investigation of the nuclear polarization effects in one- and few-electron heavy ions is presented. The nuclear polarization corrections in the zeroth and first orders in $1/Z$ are evaluated to the binding energies, the hyperfine splitting, and the bound-electron $g$ factor. It is shown that the nuclear polarization contributions can be substantially canceled simultaneously with the rigid nuclear corrections. This allows for new prospects for probing the QED effects in a strong electromagnetic field and the determination of fundamental constants.

• Received 16 May 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.023002