O4 -Symmetry-Based Non-Perturbative Analytical Calculations of the Effect of the Helical Trajectories of Electrons in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas on the Width of Hydrogen/Deuterium Spectral Lines

Abstract

The effects of the helical trajectories of the perturbing electrons in magnetized plasmas on the dynamical Stark width of hydrogen or deuterium spectral lines have been studied analytically in our previous two papers—specifically in the situation where the magnetic field B is so strong that the dynamical Stark width of these lines reduces to the so-called adiabatic Stark width because the so-called nonadiabatic Stark width is completely suppressed. This situation corresponds, for example, to DA and DBA white dwarfs. We obtained those analytical results by using the formalism of the so-called conventional (or standard) theory of the impact Stark broadening: namely, by performing calculations in the second order of the Dyson perturbation expansion. The primary outcome was that the dynamical Stark broadening was found to not depend on the magnetic field B (for sufficiently strong B). In the present paper, we use the O4 symmetry of hydrogen atoms for performing the corresponding non-perturbative analytical calculations equivalent to accounting for all orders of the Dyson perturbation expansion. The results, obtained by using the O4 symmetry of hydrogen atoms, differ from our previous ones not only quantitatively, but—most importantly—qualitatively. Namely, the dynamical Stark broadening does depend on the magnetic field B, even for strong B. These results should be important for revising the interpretation of the hydrogen Balmer lines observed in DA and DBA white dwarfs. We also address confusion in the literature on this subject.