Energy loss of ions moving through high-density matter

An equation is obtained for the energy loss of ions to electrons in a high-density plasma of arbitrary degeneracy. The quantum-mechanical form of the dielectric function is used to produce a formula that is free of the usual Coulomb divergence, so that the introduction of ad hoc cutoff parameters is not required. The results show a decrease of 20% to 50% in the energy-loss rate when compared with other formulas that use the standard Coulomb logarithm.