Stopping power in nonideal and strongly coupled plasmas

The stopping power of dense nonideal plasmas is calculated in different approximations. The T-matrix approximation for binary collisions is compared with the random phase approximation for dielectric fluctuations. Within a microscopic model, the dynamical evolution of the velocity of the projectile is calculated. It reproduces well experimental values for the stopping of fast heavy ions. A comparison with molecular dynamical simulation is performed for the friction coefficient. It is found that the T matrix reproduces the simulation result with a charge dependence of ${\xi }^{1.4}$, where ξ=Z${\mathrm{\Gamma }}^{3/2}$. The connection to transport properties like conductivity is presented. In this way we extend former small Γ expansions to strongly coupled plasmas. Further improvements due to correlations are discussed. Both concepts, cluster decomposition and memory, are compared and it is found that they lead to the same quantum virial corrections of Beth-Uhlenbeck type in equilibrium. However, memory in the kinetic equation causes an additional renormalization of the effective energy transfer in nonequilibrium. © 1996 The American Physical Society.