Thermodynamic Properties of Correlated Strongly Degenerate Plasmas

An efficient numerical approach to equilibrium properties of strongly coupled systems which include a subsystem of fermionic quantum particles and a subsystem of classical particles is presented. It uses an improved path integral representation of the many-particle density operator and allows to describe situations of strong coupling and strong degeneracy, where analytical theories fail. A novel numerical method is developed, which allows to treat degenerate systems with full account of the spin scatistics. Numerical results for thermodynamic properties such as internal energy, pressure and pair correlation functions are presented over a wide range of degeneracy parameter.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, uses sprocl.sty (included) to be published in "Progress in Nonequilibrium Green's functions", M. Bonitz (Ed.), World Scientific 200

Color path-integral Monte Carlo simulations of quark-gluon plasma

Thermodynamic properties of a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP) of constituent quasiparticles are studied by a color path-integral Monte Carlo simulations (CPIMC). For our simulations we have presented QGP partition function in the form of color path integral with new relativistic measure instead of Gaussian one used in Feynman and Wiener path integrals. For integration over color variable we have also developed procedure of sampling color variables according to the group SU(3) Haar measure. It is shown that this method is able to reproduce the available quantum lattice chromodynamics (QCD) data

Correlation effects in partially ionized mass asymmetric electron-hole plasmas

The effects of strong Coulomb correlations in dense three-dimensional electron-hole plasmas are studied by means of unbiased direct path integral Monte Carlo simulations. The formation and dissociation of bound states, such as excitons and bi-excitons is analyzed and the density-temperature region of their appearance is identified. At high density, the Mott transition to the fully ionized metallic state (electron-hole liquid) is detected. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the hole to electron mass ratio $M$ on the properties of the plasma. Above a critical value of about M=80 formation of a hole Coulomb crystal was recently verified [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 235006 (2005)] which is supported by additional results. Results are related to the excitonic phase diagram of intermediate valent Tm[Se,Te], where large values of $M$ have been observed experimentally.Comment: slightly modified and shortened paper to appear in Physical Review E; contains more detailed presentation of theory (appendices

Equation of state of strongly coupled quark--gluon plasma -- Path integral Monte Carlo results

A strongly coupled plasma of quark and gluon quasiparticles at temperatures from $1.1 T_c$ to $3 T_c$ is studied by path integral Monte Carlo simulations. This method extends previous classical nonrelativistic simulations based on a color Coulomb interaction to the quantum regime. We present the equation of state and find good agreement with lattice results. Further, pair distribution functions and color correlation functions are computed indicating strong correlations and liquid-like behavior

Color path-integral Monte-Carlo simulations of quark-gluon plasma: Thermodynamic and transport properties

Based on the quasiparticle model of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a color quantum path-integral Monte-Carlo (PIMC) method for calculation of thermodynamic properties and -- closely related to the latter -- a Wigner dynamics method for calculation of transport properties of the QGP are formulated. The QGP partition function is presented in the form of a color path integral with a new relativistic measure instead of the Gaussian one traditionally used in the Feynman-Wiener path integral. It is shown that the PIMC method is able to reproduce the lattice QCD equation of state at zero baryon chemical potential at realistic model parameters (i.e. quasiparticle masses and coupling constant) and also yields valuable insight into the internal structure of the QGP. Our results indicate that the QGP reveals quantum liquid-like (rather than gas-like) properties up to the highest considered temperature of 525 MeV. The pair distribution functions clearly reflect the existence of gluon-gluon bound states, i.e. glueballs, at temperatures just above the phase transition, while meson-like $q\bar{q}$ bound states are not found. The calculated self-diffusion coefficient agrees well with some estimates of the heavy-quark diffusion constant available from recent lattice data and also with an analysis of heavy-quark quenching in experiments on ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, however, appreciably exceeds other estimates. The lattice and heavy-quark-quenching results on the heavy-quark diffusion are still rather diverse. The obtained results for the shear viscosity are in the range of those deduced from an analysis of the experimental elliptic flow in ultrarelativistic heavy ions collisions, i.e. in terms the viscosity-to-entropy ratio, $1/4\pi < \eta/S < 2.5/4\pi$, in the temperature range from 170 to 440 MeV.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures, version accepted by Phys. Rev. C, technical problems with file fixe

Thermodynamic properties and electrical conductivity of strongly correlated plasma media

We study thermodynamic properties and the electrical conductivity of dense hydrogen and deuterium using three methods: classical reactive Monte Carlo (REMC), direct path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) and a quantum dynamics method in the Wigner representation of quantum mechanics. We report the calculation of the deuterium compression quasi-isentrope in good agreement with experiments. We also solve the Wigner-Liouville equation of dense degenerate hydrogen calculating the initial equilibrium state by the PIMC method. The obtained particle trajectories determine the momentum-momentum correlation functions and the electrical conductivity and are compared with available theories and simulations

The Effects of Preheating of a Fine Tungsten Wire and the Polarity of a High-Voltage Electrode on the Energy Characteristics of an Electrically Exploded Wire in Vacuum

Results obtained from experimental and numerical studies of tungsten wires electrical explosion in vacuum are presented. The experiments were performed both with and without preheating of the wires, using positive or negative polarity of a high-voltage electrode. Preheating is shown to increase energy deposition in the wire core due to a longer resistive heating stage. The effect was observed both in single wire and wire array experiments. The evolution of the phase state of the wire material during explosion was examined by means of one-dimensional numerical simulation using a semiempirical wide-range equation of state describing the properties of tungsten with allowance made for melting and vaporization.Comment: 9 pages, 9 Postscript figure

Hole crystallization in semiconductors

When electrons in a solid are excited to a higher energy band they leave behind a vacancy (hole) in the original band which behaves like a positively charged particle. Here we predict that holes can spontaneously order into a regular lattice in semiconductors with sufficiently flat valence bands. The critical hole to electron effective mass ratio required for this phase transition is found to be of the order of 80.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Path integral Monte Carlo calculations of helium and hydrogen-helium plasma thermodynamics and of the deuterium shock Hugoniot

In this work we calculate the thermodynamic properties of hydrogen-helium plasmas with different mass fractions of helium by the direct path integral Monte Carlo method. To avoid unphysical approximations we use the path integral representation of the density matrix. We pay special attention to the region of weak coupling and degeneracy and compare the results of simulation with a model based on the chemical picture. Further with the help of calculated deuterium isochors we compute the shock Hugoniot of deuterium. We analyze our results in comparison with recent experimental and calculated data on the deuterium Hugoniot.Comment: 7 pages, 5 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge