Re: Plasma

[Ludwik Kowalski <kowalskil@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>]

On Friday, Nov 21, 2003, at 00:06 US/Pacific, Leigh Palmer wrote:

> There was a mention of plasma in outer space. There is a considerable
> mass of gas in intergalactic space that is nearly completely ionized.
> Diffuse X-rays detected from rich clusters of galaxies show that they
> often include gas (mostly hydrogen and helium) in that state. It is
> thought that the ionization is due to gravitational interaction, that
> the virial theorem applies for galaxies and ions alike. Of course this
> process of virialization does not reach an equilibrium state in rich
> clusters, but the high temperatures inferred cannot be accounted for by
> any other process.

In my mind ionization is associated with inelastic collisions
(nuclear reactions, scattering of electrons or photons, etc).
An atom traversing a layer of a stationary material can
loose all of its electrons if its speed is much higher than
the orbiting speed of its innermost electrons. Am I the only
 one who does not know how a "gravitational interaction"
can ionize an atom? Is it something that is theoretically
expected from general relativity (which I never studied)?
Ludwik Kowalski