Hydrogen Stark broadening calculations with the unified classical path theory

Abstract

The unified theory has been generalized for the case of upper and lower state interaction by introducing a more compact tetradic notation. The general result is then applied to the Stark broadening of hydrogen. The thermal average of the time development operator for upper and lower state interaction is presented. Except for the time ordering it contains the effect of finite interaction time between the radiator and perturbers to all orders, thus avoiding a Lewis type cutoff. A simple technique for evaluating the Fourier transform of the thermal average has been developed. The final calculations based on the unified theory and on the one-electron theory are compared with measurements in the high and low electron density regime. The unified theory calculations cover the entire line profile from the line center to the static wing and the simpler one-electron theory calculations provide the line intensities only in the line wings.