Nonideal phenomena in the solar plasma. Application of the theory of Coulomb fluids to stellar plasmas

Recently nonideal pressure modifications below 1 % are being resolved withi n helioseismology. It is shown that such pressure deviations occur in the s olar convection zone because of strong electrostatic interaction of the ele ctrons, and in the radiative zone and in the core because of quantum-statis tical electron exchange. Thus, the thermodynamic properties of the weakly-n onideal and weakly-degenerate plasma of the solar interior may be described within the theory of Coulomb fluids going beyond the Debye-Huckel approxim ation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.