Unraveling electronic correlations in warm dense quantum plasmas

Abstract

The study of matter at extreme densities and temperatures has emerged as a highly active frontier at the interface of plasma physics, material science and quantum chemistry with direct relevance for planetary modeling and inertial confinement fusion. A particular feature of such warm dense matter is the complex interplay of strong Coulomb interactions, quantum effects, and thermal excitations, rendering its rigorous theoretical description a formidable challenge. Here, we report a breakthrough in path integral Monte Carlo simulations that allows us to unravel this intricate interplay for light elements without nodal restrictions. This new capability gives us access to electronic correlations previously unattainable. As an example, we apply our method to strongly compressed beryllium to describe x-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) data obtained at the National Ignition Facility. We find excellent agreement between simulation and experiment. Our analysis shows an unprecedented level of consistency for independent observations without the need for any empirical input parameters.

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• Model-free Rayleigh weight from x-ray Thomson scattering measurements
• Fourier-Matsubara series expansion for imaginary-time correlation functions
• Applying the Liouville-Lanczos Method of Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory to Warm Dense Matter
• Ultrafast Heating Induced Suppression of $d$-band Dominance in the Electronic Excitation Spectrum of Cuprum
• On the density-density correlations of the non-interacting finite temperature electron gas
• Dynamic properties of the warm dense uniform electron gas with the qSTLS dielectric scheme