Virial expansion of the electrical conductivity of hydrogen plasmas

Abstract

An improved virial expansion for the low-density limit of the electrical conductivity σ(T, n) of hydrogen as the simplest ionic plasma is presented. Quantum statistical methods provide exact values for the lowest virial coefficients, which serve as a benchmark for analytical approaches to electrical conductivity as well as for numerical results from density functional theory based molecular dynamics simulations (DFT-MD) or path-integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations. The correction factor introduced by Reinholz et al., Phys. Rev. E 91, 043105 (2015) is applied to describe the inclusion of electron-electron collisions in DFT based calculations of transport coefficients. As a benchmark, the first virial coefficient is correctly described with this approach. The value of the second virial coefficient is discussed, questions about its value according to DFT-MD simulations are addressed.

The uniform electron gas at high temperatures: \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo simulations and analytical theory

“…Our investigation closes an important gap in the understanding of the UEGthe archetypical system of interacting electrons-which is highly important in its own right [2,65]. PIMC simulations and virial expansions are also of fundamental interest for more complex systems like two-component plasmas, and may be used to improve density functional calculations of, e.g., the electrical conductivity where the contribution of electron-electron collisions is not included [148]. One may also strife to improve parametrizations like GDSMFB by taking into account not just the Debye-Hückel law but higher order terms as well.…”

“…We follow a method to extract the virial coefficients already used for the virial expansion of the electrical conductivity [148]. In particular, we would like to discuss in more detail the influence of the direct ξ/6 term in the mean potential energy and its relation to the PIMC data.…”

Exciton Nature of Plasma Phase Transition in Warm Dense Fluid Hydrogen: ROKS Simulation**

“…The behaviour of hydrogen under conditions of extreme compression (20-400 GPa) and high temperatures (500-5000 K) has been studied for quite a long time [1][2][3][4][5] but its theoretical description still poses many unresolved questions. [6][7][8] One of these problems is the transition of compressed hydrogen in both solid and fluid states into a conducting state (metallization of solid hydrogen was predicted a long time ago). [9] Over the past few decades, a large number of experimental works have been carried out, both using shock compression [10][11][12][13][14] and using pulsed heating in diamond anvil cells.…”

“…The behaviour of hydrogen under conditions of extreme compression (20–400 GPa) and high temperatures (500–5000 K) has been studied for quite a long time [1–5] but its theoretical description still poses many unresolved questions [6–8] . One of these problems is the transition of compressed hydrogen in both solid and fluid states into a conducting state (metallization of solid hydrogen was predicted a long time ago) [9] .…”

Exciton nature of plasma phase transition in warm dense fluid hydrogen

“…Introduction. The behavior of hydrogen under conditions of extreme compression (100-400 GPa) and high temperatures (1000-4000 K) has been studied for quite a long time [1][2][3][4][5] but its theoretical description still poses many unresolved questions [6][7][8]. One of these problems is the transition of compressed hydrogen in both solid and fluid states into a conducting state (metallization of solid hydrogen was predicted a long time ago [9]).…”