New approximation for calculating free-free absorption in hot dense plasmas

We propose a model for calculating free-free absorption (inverse bremmstrahlung) in hot dense plasmas. This model writes the total Gaunt factor as the product of a static factor and a dynamic factor. The treatment of the static part is based on a relation between the absorption cross section and the elastic scattering cross section, which is exact for very low frequencies and becomes asymptotically correct when the Born approximation is valid. Generalizing this relation provides an expression of the absorption cross section Q(k,k'), which depends on the initial and final wave vectors k and k', as an integral of a unique function S*(k). The calculation of nondiagonal matrix elements (k ''not='' k') is thus avoided. The analytical summation of the high angular momenta in the partial wave expansion of the cross section makes possible to apply the model in the limit of weak electron screening. The collective effects are accounted for in a dynamic Gaunt factor and in an index of refraction different from unity. Numerical results for the Gaunt factor in cesium are presented and discussed. An application to the mean opacities of carbon is also shown. (Author)