Hydrogen atom under the joint influence of non-ideal plasma and a static electric field

The joint effect of the non-ideality (NI) of classical plasma and a static electric field on the energy levels of the hydrogen atom has been investigated theoretically. A two-parameter pseudopotential, derived from Bogolyubov chain equations, is used to model the interactions of the charged particles in classical non-ideal plasma (NICP). Energies of the bound states are computed variationally by employing a trial wavefunction, which is a linear expansion of the accurate eigenstates representing the bound states of the hydrogen atom embedded in NICP. The computed bound state energies of the atom under the combined influence of NICP and a static electric field are found to be convergent with respect to the expanding size of the wavefunction. A comprehensive study is made on the changes emerging in the energy levels due to the variation of the NI of plasma as well as the strength of the electric field. It is found that the effect of the electric field on the non-degenerate ground state is reciprocally opposite to the effect of NICP. The effect of the electric field can be neutralized by increasing the NI of the plasma. Moreover, degeneracy in the azimuthal quantum number pertaining to the excited states is lifted either by the influence of the plasma or by the influence of the electric field. When the effects of the plasma and the electric field are taken together, extended splitting of the energy levels is observed.