Unified description of interactions and energy loss of particles in dense matter and plasmas

Abstract

In this work, we propose a unified model to evaluate processes of electronic interactions of charged particles with hot and dense matter, including energy losses, mean free paths, and thermalization ranges of protons or other light ions. To formulate this method, we introduce modifications to the extended-wave-packet method, which allows one to describe and evaluate the effects of ionization as well as changes in target density and temperature. The ionization of the target leads to the formation of a dense surrounding plasma with distinct energy-absorption properties. We use this unified method to evaluate the contributions of inner shells and free electrons (produced by the target ionization) to the energy loss of protons in Si, C, and Fe targets, on an extensive range of parameters that include low, intermediate, and high energies, with densities and temperatures going from normal laboratory conditions to very high values, such as those of interest for inertial fusion and astrophysical studies.