Magnetic field effects on cross section of electron capture in dense plasmas

In magnetized dense plasmas, the magnetic field effects on the capture dist ance and cross section of electron capture from hydrogenic ions by fast ful ly stripped ions is calculated. The Bohr-Lindhard model is used to obtain t he cross section of electron capture. The longitudinal dielectric function is applied to describe the interaction potential. The classical straight-li ne trajectory approximation is used to derive the motion of the projectile ion. The capture distance and cross section of electron capture are derived as a function of the impact parameter, projectile velocity, Larmor frequen cy, and plasma parameters. The electron capture probability in the presence of a magnetic field is always smaller than one without a magnetic field. W hen the magnitude of the magnetic field increases, the magnetic field effec t decreases. For larger projectile velocity the difference between the capt ure probability for different magnitudes of magnetic field becomes more sig nificant. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)04105-7].