Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 19: Atomic systems in external fields II

A 19.2: Talk

Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 14:15–14:30, V57.05

Moving neutral atoms in neutron star magnetic fields — •Thorsten Kersting and Günter Wunner — 1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universtität Stuttgart

In the past years, significant improvements in numerical calculations of atoms in neutron star magnetic fields have lead to the possibility of producing a huge amount of atomic data, which can serve as a basis for modeling neutron star atmospheres. To calculate the quantity of interest, i.e. the opacity, from cross sections and dipole strengths, it is necessary to consider broadening effects due to influences of the hot plasma in the neutron star atmosphere. The largest broadening effect for atoms in neutron star magnetic fields is likely to be the influence of the motional stark effect induced by the magnetic field. We present a method for calculating energies and wave functions which not only works for hydrogen and hydrogen-like helium, as in previous work, but also for any neutral atom.