Resonances in nonrelativistic free-free Gaunt factors with screened Coulomb interaction

Abstract

The effect of Coulomb interaction screening on nonrelativistic free-free absorption is investigated by integrating the numerical continuum wave functions. The screened potential is taken to be in Debye-H\"uckel (Yukawa) form with a screening length $D$. It is found that the values of the free-free Gaunt factors for different Debye screening lengths $D$ for a given initial electron energy ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{i}$ and absorbing photon energy $\ensuremath{\omega}$ generally lie between those of the pure Coulomb field and field-free case. However, for initial electron energies below 0.1 Ry and fixed photon energy, the Gaunt factors show dramatic enhancements (broad and narrow resonances) in the vicinities of the critical screening lengths, ${D}_{nl}$, at which the energies of $nl$ bound states in the potential merge into the continuum. These enhancements of the Gaunt factors can be significantly higher than their values in the unscreened (Coulomb) case over a broad range of ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{i}$. The observed broad and narrow resonances in the Gaunt factors are related to the temporary formation of weakly bound (virtual) and resonant (quasibound) states of the low-energy initial electron on the Debye-H\"uckel potential when the screening length is in the vicinity of ${D}_{nl}$.