RESONANT COMPTON SCATTERING IN NONTHERMAL ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS

Abstract

The nonthermal effect on the resonant Compton scattering process is investigated in Lorentzian astrophysical plasmas. The screened atomic wave functions and energies for the hydrogenic ion in Lorentzian plasmas are obtained by the Rayleigh-Ritz variational method. The resonance Compton scattering cross section in Lorentzian plasmas is also obtained as a function of the spectral index and plasma parameters by the photon-perturbation Hamiltonian in the dipole representation. It is shown that the nonthermal character of the Lorentzian plasma enhances the resonant Compton scattering cross section. In addition, the nonthermal effect on the cross section is found to be more significant in plasmas with higher densities.