Resonant Compton Scattering of Photons by Helium Atoms in Lorentzian Astrophysical Plasmas

Abstract

We investigate the effects of Lorentzian astrophysical plasmas on resonant Compton scattering of photons by the helium ground and excited states. The bound-excited states energies in the plasma environments are obtained by using highly correlated exponential wave functions in the framework of Ritz variational method. The resonance Compton scattering cross sections in Lorentzian plasmas between the \(\hbox {1s}^{2}{\,}^{1}\hbox {S}\) and 1s2p \(^{1}\hbox {P}\), 1s2s \(^{1}\hbox {S}\) and 1s3p \(^{1}\hbox {P}\), 1s3s \(^{1}\hbox {S}\) and 1s3d \(^{1}\hbox {D}\) states are reported as a function of the spectral index and plasma parameter. The nonthermal character of the Lorentzian plasmas shows interesting features on the resonant Compton scattering cross sections.