Quasiclassical theory and simulations of strongly coupled plasmas

Abstract

A survey on the dynamical and thermodynamical properties of plasmas with strong Coulomb interactions in the quasi-classical density–temperature region is given. First the basic theoretical concepts describing non-ideality are discussed. The chemical picture is introduced. It is shown that the non-ideal plasma subsystem of the free charges has a rather large quasi-classical regime, where the quantum effects yield only corrections to the merely classical dynamics. The plasma of free charges may be described by effective potentials which incorporate quantum effects in an approximative way. The simplest effective potentials are only space-dependent, more advanced methods include momentum-dependent interactions. On the basis of these potentials analytical results are derived and simulation methods are developed. It is shown that effective potentials are appropriate for the description of thermodynamical as well as collective properties.