IONIZATION EQUILIBRIUM OF HOT HYDROGEN PLASMA

The hydrogen plasma is studied at temperatures T similar to 10(4)-10(6 ) K using the free energy minimization method. A simple analytic free energy model is proposed which is accurate at densities rho less than or similar to 1 cm(-3) and yields the convergent internal partition fu nction of atoms. The occupation probability formalism is modified for solving the ionization equilibrium problem. The ionization degree and equation of state are calculated and compared with the results of othe r models. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.