Thermal Conduction by Electrons in Hot Dense Plasmas

摘要

Based on a quantum collective approach, electron conduction opacity is analyzed, taking into account several nonideality effects such as electron-electron (e-e) collisions in addition to electron-ion collisions, dynamic shielding, electron partial degeneracy, and ion coupling. The collision process is based on electron wave functions interacting with the continuum oscillations (plasma waves). The e-e collisions, the main nonideal effect, contribute to the thermal conduc- tivity calculation in the intermediate coupling regime. Hence, the extensively used Lorentz gas approximation cannot be justified for plasma of astrophysical interest. The present results are compared to existing theories of electron conduction in stellar matter.