Atom-Rydberg Atom Collisions in Hydrogen Plasmas: Cross Sections and Rate Coefficients

Abstract

Non-LTE modelling requires accurate atomic data e.g. collisional excitation and ionization cross-sections and rate coefficients. In order to improve the modeling of the solar photosphere, as well as to model atmospheres of other similar and cooler stars where the main constituent is also hydrogen, it is necessary to take into account the influence of all the relevant collisional processes on the excited-atom populations in weakly ionized hydrogen plasmas. In this context we present the data needed for the inclusion of the specific atomic collisional processes in the investigation of the optical and kinetic properties of weakly ionized stellar atmospheres layers. The ionization processes in collisions of excited hydrogen atoms with atoms in ground states were considered for the principal quantum numbers 2 ≤ n ≤ 20 and temperatures 4000 K ≤ T ≤ 20000 K.