Plasma screening effect on electron-electron interactions

Abstract

In the calculation of atomic structures within the plasma environment, the plasma screening effect on nuclei - electron interactions is generally considered, but the plasma screening effect on electron - electron interactions is less considered. In this work, the MCDHF method combined with the screening potential is used to study plasma screening effect on the atomic structure parameters versus the electron density, electron temperature, nuclear charge and the number of bound electrons. For the ground states and the first excited states of helium-like ions, the energy shifts, transition energy shifts and transition probability shifts caused by the plasma screening effect on electron-electron interactions increase with the increase of electron densities and decrease with increasing the electron temperatures, respectively. With the increase of nuclear charge, the energy shifts increase gradually and tends to a stable value, while the transition energy shifts and transition probability shifts decrease gradually and tend to 0. The energy shifts increase with the increase of the number of bound electrons. The electron density, electron temperature, nuclear charge and number of bound electrons corresponding to the percentages of transition energy shifts and transition probability shifts caused by plasma screening on electron-electron interactions greater than or equal to 10%, are called as the critical electron density, critical electron temperature, critical nuclear charge and critical number of bound electrons, respectively. When one of the following four conditions is satisfied, the percentages of transition energy shifts and transition probability shifts caused by plasma screening on electron-electron interactions will be greater than or equal to 10%, and the plasma screening effect on electron - electron interactions can not be ignored. 1) The electron density is greater than or equal to the critical electron density, when the electron temperature is a fixed value. 2) The electron temperature is less than or equal to the critical electron temperature, when the electron density is a fixed value. 3) The nuclear charge is less than or equal to the critical nuclear charge, when the electron density and temperature are both fixed. 4) The number of bound electrons is greater than or equal to the critical number of bound electrons, when the electron density and temperature are both fixed.