Semiclassical electrodynamics of alien atoms in interacting media I. Self-consistent mean field approximation

Abstract

A self-consistent mean field theory of alien atoms injected into an interacting medium is presented, in which the response of the medium to an arbitrary time-dependent atomic state, or a mixture of states, is viewed as a classical field acting back on alien atoms. The atomic spectrum resulting from the self-consistent mean field approximation is determined by the medium response function and a scattering data set.