Influence of a dense plasma on the fine-structure levels of a hydrogenic ion
We discuss the effects of plasma electron polarization surrounding a multiply charged hydrogenic impurity in a high density plasma on the fine-structure levels of the impurity ion. Calculations performed using the ion sphere model suggest that the magnitude of the fine-structure correction smoothly increases with increasing plasma electron density. The other features of the dense plasma effects include the removal of the k degeneracy of the Dirac levels, and a breakdown of the Z4 scaling of the fine-structure correction along the hydrogenic sequence of ions. The resultant outcome is a complete modification of the fine-structure multiplets in terms of the ordering and spacing between the multiplet components.
Ray
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Condensed Matter Physics Group, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Sector-I, Block-AF, Bidhannagar, Calcutta 700 064, India.