FERMI-DEGENERACY AND DISCRETE-ION EFFECTS IN THE SPHERICAL-CELL MODEL AND ELECTRON-ELECTRON CORRELATION-EFFECTS IN HOT DENSE-PLASMAS

The spherical-cell model [F. Perrot, Phys. Rev. A 25, 489 (1982); M. W. C. Dharma-wardana and F. Perrot, ibid. 26, 2096 (1982)] is improved to investigate laser-produced hot, dense plasmas. The free-electron distribution function around a test free electron is calculated by using the Fermi integral in order that the free-electron-free-electron correlation function includes Fermi-degeneracy effects, and also that the calculation includes the discrete-ion effect. The free-electron-free-electron, free-electron-ion, and ion-ion correlation effects are coupled, within the framework of the hypernetted-chain approximation, through the Ornstein-Zernike relation. The effective ion-ion potential includes the effect of a spatial distribution of bound electrons. The interparticle correlation functions and the effective potential acting on either an electron or an ion in hot, dense plasmas are calculated numerically. The Fermidegeneracy effect on the correlation functions between free electrons becomes clear for the degeneracy parameter theta less than or similar to 1. The discrete-ion effect in the calculation of the correlation functions between free electrons affects the electron-ion pair distribution functions for r(s) greater than or similar to 3. As an application of the proposed model, the strong-coupling effect on the stopping power of charged particles [Xin-Zhong Yan, S. Tanaka, S. Mitake, and S. Ichimaru, Phys. Rev. A 32, 1785 (1985)] is estimated. While the free-electron-ion strong-coupling effect and the Fermi-degeneracy effect incorporated in the calculation of the free-electron distribution function around a test free electron enhance the stopping number, the quantum-diffraction effect incorporated in the quantal hypernetted-chain equations [J. Chihara, Prog. Theor. Phys. 72, 940 (1984); Phys. Rev. A 44, 1247 (1991); J. Phys. Condens. Matter 3, 8715 (1991)] reduces the stopping number substantially.