Comparison between static LFC and Mermin dielectric functions on proton stopping in a degenerate electron gas

Abstract

If plasmas are considered fully ionized, the electronic stopping of a charged particle that traverses them will only be due to free electrons. This stopping can be obtained in first view through random phase approximation (RPA). However, free electrons interact between them affecting the stopping. These interactions can be taken into account in the dielectric formalism in two different ways: the local field correction (LFC) and the Mermin dielectric functions. LFC produces an enhancement in stopping before the maximum and recovers the RPA values just after it. The Mermin method also produces first a high increase at very low energies, then a small enhancement at low energies and finally decreases below RPA values before and after the maximum. Differences between the two methods are very important at very low energies and 30% around the stopping maximum.