Nonlinear Z correction to the stopping power in a hot electron gas

Abstract

We develop a renormalized technique to evaluate the stopping power for a test ion traversing a hot classical plasma. We show that the linear description of energy loss begins to break down at a distance much greater than the classical distance of closest approach. The close-collision contribution to the stopping power is on the same footing as that for distant collision. As a new result, we show the existence of nonanalytical terms in addition to the usual Z2 contribution to the stopping power.