Positron scattering from hydrogen atom embedded in dense quantum plasma

Scattering of positrons from the ground state of hydrogen atoms embedded in dense quantum plasma has been investigated by applying a formulation of the three-body collision problem in the form of coupled multi-channel two-body Lippmann-Schwinger equations. The interactions among the charged particles in dense quantum plasma have been represented by exponential cosine-screened Coulomb potentials. Variationally determined hydrogenic wave function has been employed to calculate the partial-wave scattering amplitude. Plasma screening effects on various possible mode of fragmentation of the system e(+) + H(1s) during the collision, such as 1s -> 1s and 2s -> 2s elastic collisions, 1s -> 2s excitation, positronium formation, elastic proton-positronium collisions, have been reported in the energy range 13.6-350 eV. Furthermore, a comparison has been made on the plasma screening effect of a dense quantum plasma with that of a weakly coupled plasma for which the plasma screening effect has been represented by the Debye model. Our results for the unscreened case are in fair agreement with some of the most accurate results available in the literature. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.