Low-frequency plasma conductivity in the average-atom approximation

Low-frequency properties of a plasma are examined within the average-atom approximation, which presumes that scattering of a conducting electron on each atom takes place independently of other atoms. The relaxation time tau distinguishes a high-frequency region omegatau>1 , where the single-atom approximation is applicable explicitly, from extreme low frequencies omegatau<1 , where, naively, the single-atom approximation is invalid. A proposed generalization of the formalism, which takes into account many-atom collisions, is found to be accurate in all frequency regions, from omega=0 to omegatau>1 , reproducing the Ziman formula in the static limit, results based on the Kubo-Greenwood formula for high frequencies and satisfying the conductivity sum rule precisely. The correspondence between physical processes leading to the conventional Ohm's law and the infrared properties of QED is discussed. The suggested average-atom approach to frequency-dependent conductivity is illustrated by numerical calculations for an aluminum plasma in the temperature range 2-10eV .