Broadening of the Lyman-αline of hydrogen by low-frequency electric fields in dense plasmas

Abstract

Using the quasistatic approximation as basis for the description of broadening by ion-produced fields and the impact approximation for electron-produced high-frequency fields, an analytic approximation procedure is developed and applied which allows for slow variations of the total field acting on a radiating atom. This low-frequency Stark broadening depends on the radiator velocity and is therefore correlated with the thermal Doppler broadening. The theory is extended to Lyman-$\alpha$ lines of hydrogenic ions.