Radiation loss of electrons under scattering by a Thomas-Fermi atom

Abstract

A universal theory and calculation results for the bremsstrahlung of electrons on complex atoms are presented. The theory accounts for the dynamic polarization of the core in the energy range from 0.5 to 10 keV, which is characteristic of radiation energy losses in a hot plasma with heavy ions. The treatment is based on the statistical atom model and the quasi-classical approximation of the incident electron. The model accounts for the penetration of the incident electron into the atomic core, which affects the relationship between the polarization and static radiation channels. The contribution of the polarization channel in both the spectral and the total radiation loss of electrons at various frequencies, nucleus charges, and energies of the incident particle is analyzed. It is shown that the contribution of the polarization channel is comparable with that of the static channel (which was calculated elsewhere) in a wide range of parameters. The results obtained are in a reasonable quantitative agreement with the detailed quantum-mechanical calculation carried out for individual atoms.