All-Order Full-Coulomb Quantum Spectral Line-Shape Calculations
T. A. Gomez, T. Nagayama, P. B. Cho, M. C. Zammit, C. J. Fontes, D. P. Kilcrease, I. Bray, I. Hubeny, B. H. Dunlap, M. H. Montgomery, D. E. Winget
Abstract
Understanding how atoms interact with hot dense matter is essential for astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Interactions in high-density plasmas broaden spectral lines, providing a rare window into interactions that govern, for example, radiation transport in stars. However, up to now, spectral line-shape theories employed at least one of three common approximations: second-order Taylor treatment of broadening operator, dipole-only interactions between atom and plasma, and classical treatment of perturbing electrons. In this Letter, we remove all three approximations simultaneously for the first time and test the importance for two applications: neutral hydrogen and highly ionized magnesium and oxygen. We found 15%-50% change in the spectral line widths, which are sufficient to impact applications including white-dwarf mass determination, stellar-opacity research, and laboratory plasma diagnostics.