Reduction of the Coulomb logarithm due to electron-neutral collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron-neutral collisions reduce the Coulomb logarithm, affecting the stopping power of electrons in a plasma, and demonstrates a significant decrease in the effective Coulomb logarithm due to these collisions.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of the reduction of the Coulomb logarithm caused by electron-neutral collisions using the linear plasma response formalism.

Findings

The effective Coulomb logarithm decreases significantly with electron-neutral collisions.

In the highly collisional limit, it becomes inversely proportional to the collision frequency.

Results agree with recent experimental and theoretical studies.

Abstract

The frictional force (stopping power) acting on a test electron moving through the ideal electron gas is calculated taking into account electron-neutral atom collisions using the linear plasma response formalism. This allows us to elucidate how the effective Coulomb logarithm is affected by electron-neutral collisions. In agreement with a recent investigation by Hagelaar, Donko, and Dyatko [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 123}, 025004 (2019)] we observe that the effective Coulomb logarithm decreases considerably due to electron-neutral collisions and becomes inversely proportional to the collision frequency in the highly collisional limit.