Saha Equation Normalized to Total Atomic Number
Title:
Saha Equation Normalized to Total Atomic Number
Authors:
Fowler, John W.
Publication:
eprint arXiv:1209.1111
Publication Date:
09/2012
Origin:
ARXIV
Keywords:
Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics, Physics - Atomic Physics
Comment:
4 pages
Bibliographic Code:
2012arXiv1209.1111F
Abstract
The Saha equation describes the relative number density of
consecutive ionization levels of a given atomic species under
conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium in an ionized gas. Because
the number density in the denominator may be very small, special
steps must be taken to ensure numerical stability. In this paper we
recast the equation into a form in which each ionization fraction
is normalized by the total number density of the atomic species,
analogous to the Boltzmann equation describing the distribution of
excitation states for a given ion.