A critical analysis of the advanced generalized theory: Applicability and applications

A recent series of theoretical works (“advanced generalized theory”) has been proposed and applied to the analysis of hydrogen lines, particularly Hα in plasmas. The “advanced generalized theory” (AGT) [JQSRT 1994;51:129, Phys Rev E 1999;60:R2480, JQSRT 2000; 65:405] is critically examined, both theoretically and in applications to the analysis of experimental data. A number of serious flaws are exposed and discussed. The major flaws include using an inconsistent perturbation theory and erroneous Weisskopf radius-type arguments to access dynamic behavior. Further, the results derived from calculations using the theory are in disagreement with both exact analytic results and benchmark calculations giving rise to the conclusion that the theory is not physically valid. Finally, we find that applications of this theory to laser-spark and flash-tube experiments have led to claims of warm dense matter (WDM) effects, which are found here to be unnecessary when experimental errors are estimated realistically. In summary, we find the AGT to be incorrect in it formulation, incorrectly reduced to numerical results, and inappropriately applied to data analysis.