Electron-impact excitation of ions within a quantum plasma

We develop a new relativistic model which can describe the dynamics on electron-impact excitation (EIE) of ions within a quantum plasma environment. An exemplary excitation 1s1/2 → 2p3/2 of Fe XXVI by electron impact with the exponential cosine-screened Coulomb potential (ECSCP) is presented, i.e., 25 times ionized atoms of Fe, exist in laser-produced plasmas, astrophysical objects, and electron beam ion trap experiments. For the atomic structure of target ion, using the same potential, a Ritz variational method with a trial wave function that contains unknown variational parameters is also proposed for comparison purposes. In this method, an analytical formula of bound energy is derived from the energy equation, and the variational parameters are determined by the minimization of the energy. The energies obtained from our two methods are compared with each other and other theoretical predictions based on the non-relativistic model and found to be in good agreement. For the collision dynamics, the continuum wave function is determined by solving the modified Dirac equations, in which the ECSCP is included for the solution of the continuum orbital. The total cross sections, magnetic sublevel cross sections, and the degrees of linear polarization of emitted x-rays are calculated as a function of the incident energy and screening parameter by using the distorted-wave method in the relativistic frame. Since there are no experiments or other calculations for EIE cross sections on this ion, the obtained results have been compared with those for an isolated ion. The effect of quantum plasma leads to a reduction in the total and magnetic sublevel cross-sections and thus reduces the degrees of linear polarization of emitted x-rays. Comparative analysis allows to estimate the quality of the proposed approximations. Our dynamic model is practicable and easy to apply, which may provide an alternative route towards information with fluorescence polarization in a quantum plasma environment. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd