KINETICS OF EXCITATION AND IONIZATION IN NONIDEAL PLASMAS

It is shown that quantum effects in dense gases and nonideal plasmas l ead to nonexponential tails in the distribution function of electron m omenta. This in turn is responsible for nonexponential temperature dep endence of ionization and excitation rates in thermal equilibrium. The se changes are predicted to be more pronounced than those due to lower ing of the ionization potential. Consistent description of this phenom enon relies upon the evolution of the generalized electron distributio n function, which depends both on energy and momentum. A kinetic equat ion for this function in a strong electric field is derived. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.