Self-excitation effect in the scattering of electromagnetic radiation in a strong magnetic field

It is pointed out that the electron scattering of incident electromagnetic radiation of frequency ω_i includes also a component with the cyclotron frequency ω_L.Except in the limit ω_i ⪢ ω_L, this “self-excited effect” modifies appreciably the cross section. The modified cross section for a classical non-relativistic electron is given in this paper for both a single electron and a cold plasma. The spectral distribution of electron scattering is discussed and the Thomson absorption coefficient of a magnetized thermal equilibrium plasma is obtained for some typical cases. The results obtained here may be relevant to astrophysical processes, such as the spectrum formation of x-ray pulsars.