https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530070013
Ionization equilibrium and EOS of a low-temperature hydrogen plasma in weak magnetic fields
Institut für Physik, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 110, 10115 Berlin,
Germany
Received:
3
April
2000
Published online: 15 December 2000
The influence of a constant uniform magnetic field on the ionization equilibrium and the thermodynamic properties of a nondegenerate partially ionized hydrogen plasma is studied for weak magnetic fields. Using the methods developed in a previous work, various interaction contributions to the thermodynamic functions are given. The equation of state of a quantum magnetized plasma is presented within the framework of a virial expansion up to the second order in the fugacities, including ladder type contributions corresponding to bound states. A simple interpolation formula for an effective partition function is proposed, connecting the low- and high-field results. Furthermore, a closed analytical approximation for the thermodynamic functions in the chemical picture and a Saha equation for weakly magnetized plasmas are presented.
PACS: 52.25.Kn – Thermodynamics of plasmas / 05.70.Ce – Thermodynamic functions and equations of state / 97.60.Gb – Pulsars
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2000
