Temperature-dependent quantum pair potentials and ionization in Helium-like plasmas

Abstract

Diffraction corrected effective and Coulombic electron-ion interaction are worked out for helium like ions in plasmas of warm dense matter (WDM) and chemically-reacting concern, through explicit wave functions derived within an appropriate quantum defect framework. Very significant departures from the usual and corresponding hydrogenlike expressions are then witnessed. To do so, we strongly rely on a coherent quantum defect model (QDM) making use of parameters qualifying departures from hydrogenic bound states with same quantum numbers for negative energies as well as phase shift corrections for positive energy levels. Such an approach is also completed with a very accurate Hartree-Fock (HF) approximation for the ground state. The QDM then approaches the Slater sum-over-state- for the binary electron-ion where the pertaining ion retains an electron on its 1s hydrogenlike ground state. The resulting electron-ion effective interactions are then analytically derived through classical pair correlation functions. These latter are thoroughly contrasted to their hydrogenlike homologues. In addition,ionization in a 3-component electron-two ion system is also given a certain attention.