Dynamic plasma screening effects on semiclassical electron captures from hydrogenic ions by protons in weakly coupled plasmas

Abstract

Electron capture processes by protons from hydrogenic ions in dense plasmas, including dynamic screening effects, are investigated using the semiclassical version of the Bohr and Lindhard model with the straight-line trajectory method. The dynamic interaction potential and screened electron radius are obtained by considering the longitudinal component of the plasma dielectric function. The scaled semiclassical electron capture probability is obtained as a function of the impact parameter, Debye length, and projectile velocity. The plasma screening effects on the target system is known to be quite small, so that the plasma screening effects on the capture probability is mainly determined by the screened capture radius. The dynamic screening effect on the scaled semiclassical capture probability is found to be more significant for low projectile velocities. When the projectile velocity is smaller than the electron thermal velocity, the dynamic screening effect is weaker than the static screening effect. However, when the projectile velocity is greater than the electron thermal velocity, the dynamic screening effect leads to the static screening effect. The maximum position of the scaled capture probability approaches to the target nucleus as an increase of the projectile energy.

The hydrogen atom in plasmas with an external electric field

“…This is important as the dynamic shielding effect plays a crucial role in various plasmas, including both weakly coupled and strongly coupled plasmas. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] The screening parameter k, also known as the shielding parameter, is given as a function of the plasma temperature T and the number density n, k ¼ ð e 0 k B T e 2 n Þ 1=2 . Here k and k B are the Debye screening length and Boltzmann constant, respectively.…”

Electron transfer in proton‐hydrogen collisions in nonideal classical plasmas

“…Moreover, the scattering of proton from hydrogen atom takes place naturally in various astrophysical environments. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] As a result, various properties of the embedding environment are characterized by such scattering. Data of various scattering cross sections (CSs) are of frequent use in plasma diagnostics and interpretation of various astrophysical phenomena.…”

Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of Equilibrium Debye Plasmas

“…In fact, plasma density fluctuations, due to inter-particle correlation in dense plasmas, produce time-dependent effects in the interaction of electrons and ions, due to the polarization induced by the electron on the surrounding plasma particles, that critically depends on the ratio between the electron velocity and its thermal velocity. The effect of dynamic screening on scattering processes in weakly-coupled plasmas has been investigated [ 25 , 33 , 34 ], showing that the use of static screening overestimates the shielding, therefore, we would expect an increase of the elastic transport cross-sections reducing the electrical and thermal conductivities.…”