Electrical conductivity of plasmas of DB white dwarf atmospheres

Abstract

The static electrical conductivity of non-ideal, dense, partially ionized helium plasma was calculated over a wide range of plasma parameters: temperatures 1 × 104 ≲ T ≲ 1 × 105 K and mass density 1 × 10-6 g cm-3 ≲ ρ ≲ 2 g cm-3. Calculations of electrical conductivity of plasma for the considered range of plasma parameters are of interest for DB white dwarf atmospheres with effective temperatures 1 × 104 K ≲ Teff ≲ 3 × 104 K. Electrical conductivity of plasma was calculated by using the modified random phase approximation and semiclassical method, adapted for the case of dense, partially ionized plasma. The results were compared with the unique existing experimental data, including the results related to the region of dense plasmas. In spite of low accuracy of the experimental data, the existing agreement with them indicates that results obtained in this paper are correct. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 RAS.