Thermodynamics and transport of high-density hydrogen plasma

The thermodynamic properties and transport coefficients of non-ideal, high-density hydrogen plasma have been investigated, accounting for quantum effects due to the change in the energy spectrum of atomic hydrogen when the the electron-proton interaction is considered embedded in the surrounding particles. High-density conditions have been simulated assuming a simple confined-atom model or atomic hydrogen subject to a screened Coulomb potential. The ionization equilibrium is affected by the pressure ionization phenomenon [1, 2]. In the case of Debye plasma the influence of the plasma leads to a lowering of the ionization energy and to an additional lowering due to quantum effect on electronic levels. The electrical conductivity (Fig. 1) exhibits a dependence on the total (bound+free) electron density that mimics the ionization degree profile, i.e. the minimum merging to the fully ionized regime due to the Mott transition. The present results have been compared with results in literature [3, 4], obtained in the frame of different theories, finding significant differences when the effect of the Debye screening on atomic electronic levels is considered. References [1] D. Kremp, M., Schlanges, W. D. Kraeft, Quantum Statistic of Nonideal Plasmas in Springer Series on Atomic, Optical and Plasma Physics 25 Springer, 2005. [2] M. Capitelli, G. Colonna, A. D’Angola, Fundamental Aspects of Plasma Chemical Physics: Thermodynamics, in Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics 66 Springer, 2012. [3] M. Schlanges, D. Kremp, H. Keuer, Annalen der Physik 496, 54 (1984). [4] H. Reinholz, R. Redmer, S. Nagel, Phys. Rev. E 52, 5368 (1995).