Magnetic field effects on cross section of electron capture in dense plasmas

In magnetized dense plasmas, the magnetic field effects on the capture distance and cross section of electron capture from hydrogenic ions by fast fully stripped ions is calculated. The Bohr-Lindhard model is used to obtain the cross section of electron capture. The longitudinal dielectric function is applied to describe the interaction potential. The classical straight-line trajectory approximation is used to derive the motion of the projectile ion. The capture distance and cross section of electron capture are derived as a function of the impact parameter, projectile velocity, Larmor frequency, and plasma parameters. The electron capture probability in the presence of a magnetic field is always smaller than one without a magnetic field. When the magnitude of the magnetic field increases, the magnetic field effect decreases. For larger projectile velocity the difference between the capture probability for different magnitudes of magnetic field becomes more significant. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)04105-7].