Gaunt factor

The Gaunt factor (or Kramers–Gaunt factor) is used as a multiplicative correction to the continuous absorption or emission results when calculated using classical physics techniques. In cases where classical physics provides a close approximation, the Gaunt factor can be set to 1.0. It varies from this value in cases where quantum mechanics becomes important.^[1]

The Gaunt factor was named after the physicist John Arthur Gaunt, based on his work on the quantum mechanics of continuous absorption.^[2] Gaunt used a 'g' function in his 1930 work, which Chandrasekhar named the 'Gaunt factor' in 1939.^[3] It is sometimes named the Kramers-Gaunt factor as Gaunt incorporated the work of Hendrik Anthony Kramers.

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