Simple electron-impact excitation cross-sections including plasma density effects

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Hauptverfasser: Pain, Jean-Christophe, Benredjem, Djamel
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2021
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author Pain, Jean-Christophe
Benredjem, Djamel
author_facet Pain, Jean-Christophe
Benredjem, Djamel
contents The modeling of non-local-thermodynamic-equilibrium plasmas is crucial for many aspects of high-energy-density physics. It often requires collisional-radiative models coupled with radiative-hydrodynamics simulations. Therefore, there is a strong need for fast and as accurate as possible calculations of the cross-sections and rates of the different collisional and radiative processes. We present an analytical approach for the computation of the electron-impact excitation (EIE) cross-sections in the Plane Wave Born (PWB) approximation. The formalism relies on the screened hydrogenic model. The EIE cross-section is expressed in terms of integrals, involving spherical Bessel functions, which can be calculated analytically. In order to remedy the fact that the PWB approximation is not correct at low energy (near threshold), we consider different correcting factors (Elwert-Sommerfeld, Cowan-Robb, Kilcrease-Brookes). We also investigate the role of plasma density effects such as Coulomb screening and quantum degeneracy on the EIE rate. This requires to integrate the collision strength multiplied by the Fermi-Dirac distribution and the Pauli blocking factor. We show that, using an analytical fit often used in collisional-radiative models, the EIE rate can be calculated accurately without any numerical integration, and compare our expression with a correction factor presented in a recent work.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2102_00318
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simple electron-impact excitation cross-sections including plasma density effects
Pain, Jean-Christophe
Benredjem, Djamel
Atomic Physics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
The modeling of non-local-thermodynamic-equilibrium plasmas is crucial for many aspects of high-energy-density physics. It often requires collisional-radiative models coupled with radiative-hydrodynamics simulations. Therefore, there is a strong need for fast and as accurate as possible calculations of the cross-sections and rates of the different collisional and radiative processes. We present an analytical approach for the computation of the electron-impact excitation (EIE) cross-sections in the Plane Wave Born (PWB) approximation. The formalism relies on the screened hydrogenic model. The EIE cross-section is expressed in terms of integrals, involving spherical Bessel functions, which can be calculated analytically. In order to remedy the fact that the PWB approximation is not correct at low energy (near threshold), we consider different correcting factors (Elwert-Sommerfeld, Cowan-Robb, Kilcrease-Brookes). We also investigate the role of plasma density effects such as Coulomb screening and quantum degeneracy on the EIE rate. This requires to integrate the collision strength multiplied by the Fermi-Dirac distribution and the Pauli blocking factor. We show that, using an analytical fit often used in collisional-radiative models, the EIE rate can be calculated accurately without any numerical integration, and compare our expression with a correction factor presented in a recent work.
title Simple electron-impact excitation cross-sections including plasma density effects
topic Atomic Physics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.00318