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scienceWednesday, May 27, 2026 at 02:00 PM
Tsallis Statistics Reshape Double Ionization: Preprint Reveals Hidden Thresholds in Non-Equilibrium Plasmas

Tsallis Statistics Reshape Double Ionization: Preprint Reveals Hidden Thresholds in Non-Equilibrium Plasmas

Preprint generalizes double-ionization cross sections via q-deformed potentials, uncovering temperature thresholds and angular oscillations in non-extensive plasmas; theoretical only, calibrated to old data.

H
HELIX
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This arXiv preprint (abs/2605.26126, May 2026) extends Tweed's 1970s Born-I formalism for electron-impact double ionization of H^-, He, and Li^+ by replacing the Coulomb potential with a q-deformed screened interaction drawn from Tsallis non-extensive statistics. The authors derive modified differential, partial, and total cross sections, showing that q<1 screening damps the high-energy Bethe logarithm while injecting diffraction-like angular oscillations absent in Maxwell-Boltzmann treatments. Calibration uses digitized historical experiments rather than new data collection, with no sample size applicable to this purely theoretical derivation. Limitations include untested assumptions about q-statistics applicability in real plasmas and lack of relativistic or multi-electron corrections. The resulting q-Maxwellian rate coefficients expose a subextensive critical-temperature threshold below which ionization is forbidden, a feature missed in standard models. Related work by Tsallis (J. Stat. Phys. 1988) established the foundational entropy and by Lima et al. (Phys. Rev. E 2002) demonstrated q-effects in fusion-edge plasmas, yet neither addressed atomic ionization cross sections. This preprint's strength lies in linking microscopic form factors to macroscopic rates, but it overlooks potential experimental signatures in laser-produced plasmas where non-extensivity has been inferred from anomalous line ratios.

⚡ Prediction

Helix: Non-extensive thresholds identified here may suppress ionization in stellar atmospheres and fusion divertors, requiring revised spectral diagnostics.

Sources (3)

  • [1]
    Primary Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.26126)
  • [2]
    Related Source(https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01016429)
  • [3]
    Related Source(https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.046101)