Abstract
In a classical plasma the momentum distribution, n(k), decays exponentially, for large k, and the same is observed for an ideal Fermi gas. However, when quantum and correlation effects are relevant simultaneously, an algebraic decay, n_{∞}(k)∼k^{-8} has been predicted. This is of relevance for cross sections and threshold processes in dense plasmas that depend on the number of energetic particles. Here we present extensive ab initio results for the momentum distribution of the nonideal uniform electron gas at warm dense matter conditions. Our results are based on first principle fermionic path integral Monte Carlo (CPIMC) simulations and clearly confirm the k^{-8} asymptotic. This asymptotic behavior is directly linked to short-range correlations which are analyzed via the on-top pair distribution function (on-top PDF), i.e., the PDF of electrons with opposite spin. We present extensive results for the density and temperature dependence of the on-top PDF and for the momentum distribution in the entire momentum range.
Highlights
Dense quantum plasmas and warm dense matter (WDM) have attracted growing interest in recent years
(3) We investigate the momentum distribution function in the vicinity of the Fermi momentum and for small momenta
Regarding simulations with the two approximate configuration PIMC (CPIMC) variants that were discussed above [82], the analysis reveals that RCPIMC+ is reliable for intermediate temperatures, 0.1
Summary
Dense quantum plasmas and warm dense matter (WDM) have attracted growing interest in recent years. WDM situations are realized upon laser or ion beam compression of matter [9] and in experiments on inertial confinement fusion [10,11]. Under WDM conditions the electrons are typically quantum degenerate and moderately correlated, whereas ions are classical and, possibly strongly correlated. These properties clearly manifest themselves in the thermodynamic [12,13,14,15,16], transport, and optical properties [17,18,19,20,21,22] of WDM. For additional investigations of the uniform electron gas (UEG) model at finite temperature, see Refs. [2,29,30,31,32]
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