Collective contribution to the energy loss of a fast ion in a degenerate electron-ion plasma

The energy loss of a fast ion to a degenerate electron-ion plasma via the excitation of ion waves is calculated by the dielectric-function formalism. This collective contribution is at most a few percent of the energy loss due to ion-ion collisions for plasmas in the laser fusion domain, but can be a significant fraction of the total energy loss to ions in higher-density plasmas encountered in astrophysical situations