Electric dipole transition amplitudes for atoms and ions with one valence electron

Motivated by recent measurements for several alkali-metal atoms and alkali-metal-like ions, we perform a detailed study of electric dipole (E1) transition amplitudes in K, Ca+, Rb, Sr+, Cs, Ba+, Fr, and Ra+, which are of interest for studies of atomic parity violation, electric dipole moments, and polarizabilities. Using the all-orders correlation potential method, we perform high-precision calculations of E1 transition amplitudes between low-lying s, p, and d states. We perform a robust error analysis, and compare our calculations to many amplitudes for which there are high-precision experimental determinations. We find excellent agreement, with deviations at the level of ~0.1%. We also compare our results to other theoretical evaluations, and discuss the implications for uncertainty analyses. Further, combining calculations of branching ratios with recent measurements, we extract high-precision values for several E1 amplitudes of Ca+, Sr+, Cs, Fr, and Ra+.