Influence of electron-neutral collisions on the Compton scattering cross section and the Salpeter structure factor in warm collisional plasmas

Abstract

The electron-neutral collision effects on the Compton scattering process are investigated in warm collisional plasmas. The Compton scattering cross section in warm collisional plasmas is obtained by the Salpeter structure factor with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and the plasma dielectric function as a function of the electron-neutral collision frequency, Debye length, and wave number. It is shown that the influence of electron-neutral collision strongly suppresses the Compton scattering cross section in warm collisional plasmas. It is also found that the electron-neutral collision effect on the differential Compton scattering cross section is more significant in forward scattering directions. We show that the differential Compton scattering cross section has a maximum at the scattering angle phi = pi/2. In addition, we find that the electron-neutral collision effect on the total Compton scattering cross section increases with increasing Debye length and wave number. The variation of the Compton scattering cross section due to the change of collision frequency and plasma parameters is also discussed. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.